Martin McDowell's Blog

Difficult is really worth doing

Martin McDowell — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Channel 4 has been showing adverts names »Difficult is worth doing« introducing skydivers jumping from an airplane and make formations in freefall and one canopy formation. It columnated on May 29th 2008 when a live TV add was broadcast from the Spanish DZ Lillo at 20:10 local time (CET). After exiting the aircraft 16 jumpers made 5 consecutive formations in the shape of letters H-O-N-D-A. Here is a flash film on the Honda Accord website made about the advert. A documentary on the whole project was made. See it by clicking the Youtube link here.

Siddharta's downloadable question mark

Martin McDowell — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I had a long and hard thought about writing anything about this at all. I had a recent unpleasant experience with some fellow Siddharta forum members about the issue of downloadable music from this Slovene rock band. This also a reason I have disabled comments for this post. sorry, I am not interested in your rants and bitchin'. I am (ab)using my blog to make a point.

So far:

Before I moved to Wales I bought a Feng Shui book on de-cluttering that was recommended by a friend at my previous job. Part of teh de-cluttering was also trying to manage and clean-up my quite vast CD collection. First step was to get rid off all the CD covers that, quite frankly, I was wasn't really interested in anymore. I bought a good CD case from BigBang and put the lot in there. The second step came by digitising the lot into MP3 as I was about to buy an iPod MP3 player to be able to store and playback my digitised music. Since I moved to the UK I realised how things have moved on since I last lived here. Virgin stores has turned to Zavvi as I understand and that is defacto gone bust. CDs have become an obscurity and music is mostly downloaded (from the likes of iTunes and Amazon's MP3 store) and/or streamed (Spotify, Last.fm...) Great, now everywhere I go, even by car, I can listen to any music from my music collection by just carrying along this small player. Then I realized I don't really want to buy CDs any more. What is the point. You just pay more for a physical item I don't what in the first place, it would only end up on a shelf gathering dust, not to mention the ecology by increasing your carbon footprint (due to the manufacturing, posting and a little bit from digitising). Also, the post likes to get lost. Now if I would buy a CD from Slovenia these factors would only be more significant.

Now:

This brings me to the forum post where I suggested or pleased (depending on the reader's point of view) that Siddharta's new material would also be available for download. This would also benefit the band as they have been striving for years to break it through outside Slovenia. In fact I did find a local Slovenian company that did have a lot of their music however the website was dead when I first tried. OK, these thing happen so I tried again the next day and it worked. To my dismay I found that none of their recent work (singles) has been published online: Vojna Idej, Napalm 3 or Baroko. I consider that quite weird as singles are becomming notoriously difficult to sell as fans will usually gor for the album as it gives them more value for money. Often than not the singles include remixes or different variations that might not really be what a middle-of-the-road fan is looking for. I had the same issue when I bought the last single from Sonique. Bad idea! For some reason one of the Baroko songs made it to the torrent sites prior to the singles's launch so the guys HAVE made it it available on their website. Now, what I was told on the forum post is that this actually wasn't the label's decision but the band's in which case I seriously think they made a big mistake. According to one of the posts the singles were supposed to be for the Slovene fans. And what about the rest? I am a fan not a bottle opener. Hey guys, I thought you wanted to reach the world?! Where are your latest songs on MZone? Where are your latest songs on iTunes? Where are your latest songs on Amazon MP3? In case you would end up publishing the songs on these websites I would also advise putting on the Slovene (original) versions of the songs. Of course it would take much more than that to make me stop being a fan. The latest work you have made is superb and I can't wait to hear the rest of the material you made with Ross Robinson. I became their fan after their second album Nord was published and I went to see them at their Kodeljevo concert.

Auto Draft

Martin McDowell — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

OK, go

Martin McDowell — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 15:09:00 +0000

Well, so far I never had any need to publish a blog whatsoever. I created the blogspot just to see what it looks alike and how Google has organized things. I have done much blogging but sorry to say the Blogspot.com leaves a lot to be desired. Hopefully they will put as much work into this as they did in Google Docs, which by the way is a great tool. It is very simple so don't compare it to OpenOffice or Microsoft Office Excel, but it does some very good basic things and it is accessible everywhere. I put all my skydiving jumps on it and it works like a charm.

Veterinary certificate

Martin McDowell — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 18:10:00 +0000

Next week I have an appointment with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) to get myself the certificate to do veterinary work in the UK. I hope it will all come together as it had takem me quite a long time to get it. My first attempts at getting the necessary documents go back as 6 years ago. Slovenia, where I live, was not part of the EU yet so mandatory exams were required. Now, just a bit (meaning quite a big bit) of red tape is needed in the form of documents. I will get into those later, if all goes well at the RCVS :-) I will travel to London, and I am looking forward to it as I haven't been there for a very long time. My B&B (Puttocks Farm) is close to Stansted (yes, Easyjet rules again) and its supposed to be very nice, costs 35 GBP per night but that is a standard for a single room.

E-mail from Oracle

Martin McDowell — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 10:09:00 +0000

Although all of the stuff mentioned in the previous post was towards perhaps working as a vet in the UK one day, I was surprised this morning to receive a job offer from Oracle. How they found me, I have no idea, but the mail was for me and not just someone who's name the computer deciphered from an e-mail address. Apparently you should never underestimate the possibility of being completely surprised each morning. Sometimes opportunities can pop-up from any corner.

Dragon 170

Martin McDowell — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 19:42:00 +0000

Besides getting a job offer from Oracle this morning I had another great thing happened to me, I finally got the chance to order my skydiving parachute from Atair Ltd. in Skofja Loka. It will be a 7-cell canopy called Dragon 170. Already set the colours and everything. It will hopefully be finished in January 2007 (fingers crossed), but I know Stane will come through, great guy. A pitty though that he will concentrate only in production of B.A.S.E. canopies and not skydiving ones anymore. Once I get the canopy I will try to post a pic somewhere on this blog. There are only some minor technical problems, like I don't have a digital camera on me :-(

A bad Thursday

Martin McDowell — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 09:56:00 +0000

Yesterday woke at 5 in the morning and couldn't goo back to sleep. Today I woke up at 3 AM and couldn't go back to sleep. What a bloody day :-( Needles to say I manged to go to sleep not long before my alarm went off. I probably shouldn't bother going to sleep tonight.
...
To something completely different... I was intrigued to see my colleague at work with a bit of a cough today which in itself wouldn't be special but for the fact that he just arrived from a trip to Singapore a few days ago. By the way, what is the current status on SARS and the bird flu. Anyone?

Florida 2007

Martin McDowell — Fri, 24 Nov 2006 18:52:00 +0000

Some of the Slovene skydivers who are planning to go skydiving in the US next year had a meeting at the Paranoia school for skydivers. I attended due to my curiosity to see what is being planned but I won't be able to go :-( There were two possible locations: California ("Parachute center" near Acampo, close to Sacramanto) and Florida (Titusville, close to Orlando). The Florida location is the same as it was this year (2006) and it was chosen as the preferred location for next year as well. One of the good things about Florida is the less risky weather in February and March, which is the time period when the trip will be made.

The Janak Chuli 2005 expedition presentation

Martin McDowell — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 10:52:00 +0000

The presentation was held by Andrej Štremfelj (50) and Rok Zalokar (24) and the theme was the alpinistic achievement on a himalayan mountain peak Janak Chuli (7090 m) which took place from 15. Sep. 2005 to 01. Nov. 2005. The presentation was great, however I did expect more side stories and not just plain commentary to the photo slides. Also, the location of the venue was pretty bad - hotel Lovec in Bled (Slovenia) - the conference hall was way up on the 4. floor and was way to small for the number of visitors, the ventilation was apparently non-existent and all that was topped by a relatively high admission fee. Unfortunately the high concentration of CO₂ and the tropical heat spoiled an interesting story of this formidable alpinistic expedition. There is an interview on the web with both Andrej and Rok, but only in Slovene. There is another article here. (the picture is curtesy of the Janak 2005 expedition)

The London trip 2006 (day 1)

Martin McDowell — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 19:00:00 +0000

If you asked me a few months ago that I will have to go to the UK I would not be so cheerful as the security checks at the airports would probably be as pleasant as sticking your hand in a meat grinder. Luckily the EU recently imposed new regulations that make air travel a bit easier, just as long as you stick all your aftershaves and deodorants in the check-in luggage. Even if the the new security system was not imposed I would still have to go anyway. Needles to say, the airport security guards at Brnik airports was probably more intimate with me than many of the girls I have been on a date with :-( Just as it took me two hours to clear that unpleasant image from my head I ended in Stansted airport to be meticulously searched again. "Thankfully" this time my person was not the victim but my luggage which got just about the same hands-on experience as I did a couple of hours earlier. I have always heard of scary stories of people renting a perfectly decent car and ending up with an equivalent to a Yugo. However my luck has held so far and this time was no different, well, sort of. The gentlemen at the rental counter was very persistent to upgrade my perfectly reasonable VW Jetta to a Merck or even a Grand Cherokee. Luckily I was not persuaded as the Jetta ended up to be just OK except for its lack of foot pedals and with a unusual gear stick. I intentionally say "unusual" as I have never driven an automatic in my life and now I was in a country where the roads are strange, they drive on the wrong (right) side of the road, it is dark, wet and I have a car I don't know how to drive! But it was certainly nice to see that the friendly rental company assistant was on hand to explain what the little letters by the gear stick meant which didn't help me move from the parking area as the gear stick was completely stuck. As all men, I have an ego, the same ego that does not allow me to ask for directions if I get lost, so I had a look through the car's manual and found I just had to use the brake pedal :-)

The London trip 2006 (day 2)

Martin McDowell — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 19:00:00 +0000

OK, this time it was for real. No more messing about with strange-side-of-the-steering-wheel car and funny gear sticks that didn't want to move. I had to get to London, find parking, get to the Redbridge tube station, change at Mile End, end up in Westiminster station, walk to the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) and get myself registered. Luckily the London underground is just to big too big to implement any real security checks so I was spared the man handling I had to endure the previous day.

Unfortunately Mrs. Luck or whatever he/she is called was not on my side all the way as there was an accident on the M11 (the motorway you have to use if you drive from Stansted airport to London) so I ended up in a mild traffic jam and to top that, I ended-up lost by missing the exit on the M11 and nearly missing the exit after that as well. I then had to find my way back to the previous exit by maneuvering through the small back streets while the rush hour was still in effect. I was hoping to park my car at Redbridge station but once I finally got there (after getting lost again by turning of the wrong exit on the roundabout) I was not so pleased to find out that the parking lot was full! So the parking attendant told me to use the parking by a nearby pub and that it will cost only me only 5 pounds fr the whole day. Yeah, right. It ended up costing me 30 pounds. But as I was late as it is I had to dish up the money and sprint for the tube station. I got to the RCVS only 9 minutes before my appointment. To close for comfort, if you ask me.

My next job was getting myself into the RCVS which I will describe in a separate post, where I will describe in detail the procedure I went through in getting my Slovene veterinary diploma nostrified and confirmed by the RCVS.

After the RCVS business I put on my tourist hat and went walking round London. I started at Lambeth bridge and went towards Westminster through the Victoria Tower Gardens. I remembered that I have never been to the Westminster Abbey so I had a look (entrance fee 10 GBP). I finally saw where many of the famous people I knew from history and literature lessons were buried: Queen Mary I. and Queen Elisabeth I., Lord Byron, Charles Dickens and so on. After that I continued on Whitehall, pass Downing street, waived (or should I have made rude gestures, I am not completely sure) and ended up at Trafalgar square. From there I went up the Strand and down to the Embankment. Then I took a short trip with the underground at Charing Cross to Oxford circus, where I continued on Oxford street to Marble Arch and Hyde Park, walked down Park lane and near Brook Gate visited the Animals in War Memorial (link 1, link 2, link 3, link4) by an English sculptor called David Backhouse. I found the memorial completely by chance but loved the idea of it.

After that I continued in Green Park, then on Piccadilly where I got my regular dose of Polonium 210 at 167 Piccadilly and ended up in Piccadilly Circus. By then I was so nackered and above all it was getting arctic so I used the Central line to go back to Redbridge but remembered I have never been to St. Paul's cathedral on the way - so I made another stop.

The atmosphere was quite special, I had arrived just as mass was starting, the choir was singing which produced a great sound effect in the cathedral. I must have stayed there for over half an hour. I must also have looked quite out of place sitting there - I had my suit on and didn't look as any of the German or Japanese tourists or even as one of the church goers.

After that great experience I decided that that was enough and I should be reunited with my rented Jetta. But apparently I got lost again as I could not find the St. Paul's tube station so I ended up at Chancery Lane. On the way there I saw a very familiar building from many of Sky News's live coverages of court proceeding - the Old Bailey. Catching a train at Chancery Lane proved to be a bit of a tricky affair as I seemed to have stumbled on the evening rush hour for that part of town and all the trains were so full-up I could't get on any of them and the station was getting fuller by the minute. So I decided to try something else: I went to the other side of the station and drove the opposite way. The trains there were much more empty. Went a few stations to Oxford Circus and got on the train going in the opposite direction again. The trains there were not so full, but they were very full at Chancery Lane where I could see again that people could still not get on. I was surprised to find that other seasoned London transport users did not do the same. They probably just couldn't be bothered.

The London trip 2006 (day 3)

Martin McDowell — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 19:00:00 +0000

Finally, I had much less to do today, unless you include driving - most of it on the M11, M25 and M3, M27 motorway (in that order). And the weather improved so I got to see that rarely seen English sunshine. I never stop being surprised on the size of the road and the chaotic sense of the M25. Cars keep on coming up to you from all directions and it is no place to be thinking of how last years boogie in Maribor went as you may find you are suddenly united by at least one car who's driver was probably thinking about tonight's supper.

I did have one appointment that day, I had to see the boss of the veterinary clinic in Portsmouth. Now the story here is, that I have some kind of plan to move to the UK next year and re-invent myself as a small animal vet, but as I have been outside the profession for 6 years I was told I might have to volunteer for up to 3 to 6 months. On the plane, I live on, this is a bit difficult as every time I go to the shop they still insist on me paying with something called money. And the funny thing is, the same happens at the petrol station. So unless I get a fabulous extra job for an hour a day that pays as much as a full time job or if I find out I have some, till know unknown wealth relatives, I have a little problem. I will, of course, try to get myself fully employed straight away, but that may have to do with another planet all-together.

The London trip 2006 (days 4 and 5)

Martin McDowell — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 19:00:00 +0000

These two days were mainly spent doing other stuff, but one of the things, that ended to be taking up quite a bit of my time was the search for the sodden curry powder. You know when you go abroad and you sometimes get a list of things to buy. I had Sharwoods mild curry powder on this one (among other things) and unlike a few years ago, when it was quite easy to find it in Tesco, this time it proved to be mission impossible. Went to all the big supermarkets - nothing. I even got desperate enough I went to Sharwoods website and called them as well. The shop that supposed to stock it turned out not to have them at all. By this time I was thinking, why on earth is this curry powder so important to me. But a mission was a mission and I pressed on. I even ended up running from shop to shop in the rain in the red light district of Southampton and trying to explain to little Pakistani women who could not speak very good English, what a Sharwoods curry powder really is. Mind you, no self respecting Asian would ever date to stick a curry in his mouth that was made from a ready prepared curry powder.

How to work as a vet in the UK on a Slovene vet diploma

Martin McDowell — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 14:57:00 +0000

This post will be dedicated to the description of the procedure I had to go through to get my Slovene veterinary qualifications recognized in the United Kingdom. I must stress that this is the procedure that was applicable to me and may vary for other individuals that have different circumstances. I first tried to get my diploma nostrified 6 years ago but because Slovenia was not yet part of the European Union I would have to go through professional exams in the area of small animal practice and horses. I also had a problem getting a letter for good professional standing from the Slovene Veterinary Chamber (Veterinarska zbornica) as they told me that they do not issue such documents. The actual first time I asked them (before they were reorganized) I didn't get a reply at all. I was also talking to the Slovene Justice ministry (Ministrstvo za pravosodje) where they told me I would have to go through a quite a bit of red tape to get an official copy of my diploma: get a notarised copy, then get the dean's signature verified and so on. This is completely unnecessary as all you need in cases, where the RCVS asks for a notarised translation/copy is an official translation (in English) that can be made by any court interpreter for the English language. So in fact what you need is a photocopy of a document it and have that officially translated. This means the translator will make two puncture holes (like for putting in a binder) and bind the copy and the translated copy together with a special tri-coloured string. The translation must have a court interpreter's declaration (for example: I, the undersigned [name of court interpreter comes here], permanent court interpreter for the English Language, Appointed by the Decree No. [a number comes here], issued by the Ministry of Justice of Republic of Slovenia, hereby certify that this is a true translation of the corresponding Slovenian Document.". The string I mentioned above is them joined at the other side and affixed with a sticker which is then stamped. In any case, this will all be done by the court interpreter (translator). Here are the documents I needed to send to the Membership department at the RCVS:

Diploma awarding the professional title of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (dr. vet. med.)
A Certificate from the Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Food (Ministrstvo za kmetijstvo, gozdarstvo in prehrano) stating, that my school curriculum is in line with the EU standards. This certificate based on compliance of my veterinary qualifications with Article 1 of the Council Directive No. 78/1027/EEC (Official Gazette 362/78) and is gained by applying to the above Ministry and also enclosing a copy of the following documents:
1. Certificate of a successfully completed state examination (Strokovni izpit / državni izpit) and
2. Veterinary Diploma
A letter of good professional standing: this letter is now issued by the Veterinary Chamber (Veterinarska zbornica) without any problem. They also do it in English so you needn't have to worry about translation. The letter must also state, that you are a member of the chamber. So in case you are not, you have to join them, at least temporarily. I suggest you cancel your membership only AFTER you have gained the RCVS certificate.
Certificate of having passed the state examination in the field of veterinary medicine (Strokovni izpit / državni izpit).
The decree/decision stating you have been given the Licence to perform Veterinary activities in Slovenia. This document now issued by the Veterinary chamber, but was also issued by the Veterinary Administration of the Republic of Slovenia - VURS.
Passport (the page where you photo is). This is to show your true nationality.

As I said, you will have to send them the official translations of the document and not the document themselves. Once you have satisfied the RCVS that all criteria has been met, then you will be invited to make an appointment (only certain dates are available and not just every day) where you will have to do the following:

fill-in a form
fill-in another form - just one line is filled per each applicant
show the original documents including the quite strangely sized Veterinary diploma (transportation can be a bit tricky, if you don't want it to get damaged)
pay the full registration fee or its proportional part, depending how close to April 1st. The registration fee must be paid in cash. More on that can be found here.
read the following oath:
"Inasmuch as the privilege of membership of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons is about to be conferred upon me, I PROMISE AND SOLEMNLY DECLARE that I will abide in all due loyalty to the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and will do all in my power to maintain and promote its interests. I PROMISE ABOVE ALL that I will pursue the work of my profession with uprightness of conduct and that my constant endeavour will be to ensure the welfare of animals committed to my care"

After the oath is read and if all other matters (documents, fee payment) are OK, you are considered a member of the RCVS, effective immediately. You receive a certificate with you membership number on the lower left and some reading material with additional forms (like for CPD (continuing professional development)). You should aslo be visible on the membership list of the RCVS's website. For example, my entry can be found here. Websites for additional information:

Članek v slovenščini: Nostrifikacija slovenske veterinarske diplome za delo v Veliki Britaniji

FLY FEjST 2006

Martin McDowell — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 13:53:00 +0000

This was the third Slovene annual Skydiving Film Festival and it also coincided with the first freefall Skydive Photo Festival. It took place yesterday, December 8th 2006 at the KMŠ (Klub Mariborskih Študentov). I had the pleasure attending last year's festival and this year it proved to be even better. The ambient was great and the program started albeit a bit late, with a performance by a Didgeridoo musician. After that came the introduction from our local chechen father Christmas :-) who was followed by our local Bovec "representative" widely known as Gams. He seemed to be sharing the similar voice characteristics as is stage predecessor. Then came the projection of the films, 9 in all. They were shown in the same sequence as they registered with the organizational committee. The films were not to be longer than 10 minutes and what we saw way very very good so deciding on the best three was very tough. After registering point on special cards and counting the point after the projection the results we in.

Ni nam lahko, by Maja Šalamun and Petra Jerebic
the film by Boris Pečnik (don't know the title, sorry Boris)
A je to... by Vesmin Kajtazovič

Unuch also organized a donation for the http://www.padalstvo.com/ (Slovene skydive portal). The winners from the Photo Festival were also announced however I think the award was given to all 5 finalists. Oh yes, I almost forgot the Film Festival awards. It was one year's subscription to the Slovene Playboy. After that it was partying till morning - for me it was to about 2 AM. Thanks to all who helped with the Festival, especially to Emil, Tomaž, Darja, Matej, Gams... (please forgive if I had forgotten anyone. Additional names can be added upon request - a nice cool difference the web has compared to printed stuff). Na photo on top of the pages takem from the KMŠ website

Nostrifikacija slovenske veterinarske diplome za delo v Veliki Britaniji

Martin McDowell — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 18:20:00 +0000

Ker to zanima predvsem tudi slovenske veterinarje, bom tale spletni članek spisal tudi v slovenskem jeziku (obstaja tudi članek v angleščini). Ker sem eden prvih, če ne prvi, ki je dokončal postopek nostrifikacije slovenske veterinarske diplome v VB (po vstopu Slovenije v EU), sem se odločil, da zadevo spišem drugim v pomoč. Pri tem moram poudariti, da se postopek nanaša name in na moje pogoje, tako da je popolnoma mogoče, da se bo postopek nekoliko razlikoval pri drugih kandidatih. Kot prvo so mi zagotovili, da veterinarji, ki so diplomirali po našem vstopu v EU, 1. maja 2004, ne potrebujejo vse te dokumentacije, zagotovo pa ne rabijo potrdila Ministrstva za kmetijstvo o priznavanju veterinarskih kvalifikacij. Postopek za pridobitev RCVS licence sem pričel že leta 2000, ko Slovenija še ni bila članica EU in bi potem moral opravljati tudi poseben izpit v Veliki Britaniji, ki se osredotoča na veterinarsko medicino malih živali in konjev. Prva tema (male živali) mi ne bi smela delati prevelikih težav, z druga pa precej več - opravljati bi moral kar nekaj prakse, da bi se naučil vsaj osnov veterine pri konjih. Težava je bila tudi s potrdilom o nekaznovanju ("Letter of good professional standing"), ki ga zahteva RCVS. Niti ni bilo jasno, kdo naj bi ga izdal in potem, ko sem spraševal veterinarsko zbornico, nisem dobil od njih nobenega odgovora. Opomba: to je bilo pred reorganizacijo zbornice! Drug poskus pridobitve RCVS licence je bil okoli pol leta pred našim vstopom v EU. Težava je bila zopet pri potrdilu o nekaznovanju poleg tega pa so mi na Ministrstvu za pravosodje trdili, da bi se moral prebiti skozi kar nekaj birokracije, da bi dobil overjeno kopijo veterinarske diplome. Postopek naj bi bil približno takšen: narediti kopijo diplome, kopijo uradno overiti pri notarju, narediti uradni prevod diplome pri sodnem tolmaču in nato dobiti potrdilo o istovetnosti podpisa dekana na diplomi. Uff!! :-( Izkazalo se je, da to sploh ni potrebno. Ko RCVS zahteva kopijo dokumenta je potreben le uradni prevod, ki ga dobite pri katerimkoli sodnem tolmaču za angleški jezik. Prevod se naredi na navadni, neoverjeni fotokopiji dokumenta. Brez komplikacij. Cene prevodov se pri sodnih tolmačih lahko razlikujejo, vendar pa naj bi se prevajalci držali dogovorjenega cenika, ki je objavljen v zakonodaji. Imenik sodnih tolmačev je na voljo na Ministrstvu za Pravosodje na tej povezavi. Postopek za pridobitev overjenega prevoda gre nekako takole: s prevajalcem (sodnim tolmačem) se dogovorite o ceni in o prevzemu fotokopije dokumenta. Ta vam dokument prevede, na koncu prevoda doda tudi deklaracijo, ki se glasi:

"I, the undersigned [ime in priimek tolmača], permanent court interpreter for the English Language, Appointed by the Decree No. [sem pride neka številka], issued by the Ministry of Justice of Republic of Slovenia, hereby certify that this is a true translation of the corresponding Slovenian Document.".

Oba dokumenta tolmač preluknja z navadnim luknjačem (zato seveda dobro, da imate fotokopijo dokumenta in ne original) skozi luknje pa oba dokumenta (kopijo in prevod) zveže s posebno tribarvno vrvico, ki ju na zadnji strani zapečati s posebno nalepko in nalepko tudi žigosa. Sledi seznam dokumentov, katerih overjen prevod morate poslati na RCVS:

Veterinarska diploma s katerim vam je bil podeljen naziv "doktor veterinarske medicine - dr. vet. med.")
Potrdilo Ministrstva za kmetijstvo, gozdarstvo in prehrano za priznavanje kvalifikacije - (ang. certificate of compliance) potrdilo dejansko potrjuje, da je bil šolski program v skladu z EU standardi. Osnova za potrdilo je določba 1. člena Direktive Sveta št. 78/1027/EGS (Uradni list 362/78) in njenih sprememb ter na dokazilu o formalnih kvalifikacijah, navedenih v Prilogi Direktive Sveta št. 78/1026/EGS (Uradni list 362/78) s spremembami in dopolnitvami (81/1057/EGS, 89/594/EGS, 90/658/EGS in 2001/19/ES). Prošnji naslovljeno na MKGP za to potrdilo je potrebno pridati še dvoje:
1. Veterinarsko diplomo (kopijo, seveda)
2. Spričevalo o opravljenem strokovnem (državnem) izpitu s področja veterinarstva (prav tako kopijo)
Potrdilo o nekaznovanju in članstvu v Veterinarski zbornici - VZB (angl. letter of good professional standing). Na zbornici vam ga sedaj izdajo brez težav, seveda pod pogojem, da niste kaznovani zaradi strokovnih napak in da imate do zbornice poravnane vse finančne obveznosti. Na VZB so celo tako prijazni, da potrdilo že napišejo v angleškem jeziku, tako da vam dokumenta ni potrebno prevajati, na RCVS pošljete lahko kar original. Potrdilo mora vsebovati tudi stvake, ki porjuje, da ste trenutno čaln VZB. Če še niste, se boste morali včlaniti, vsaj za nekaj časa. Svetujem, da se včlanite vsaj za toliko časa, dokler ne postanete član RCVS-ja. Pripetilo se mi je namreč, da je prišlo do zamude pri moji registraciji in prejšnje potrdilo o nekaznovanju je poteklo. Tako sem moral VZB prositi za novo potrdilo. Vsaj kar se tiče RCVS ima to potrdilo "rok trajanja" okoli 3 mesece.
Spričevalo o opravljenem strokovnem (po novem imenovanem "državnem") izpitu
Odločbo oz. potrdilo o pridobitvi licence za opravljanje veterinarskih dejavnosti v Republiki Sloveniji. To potrdilo izda Veterinarska zbornica oz. VURS. Več o tem si preberite na spletni strani VZB: http://www.vzb.si/
Potni list oz. stran, kjer je izpisano vaše državljanstvo

Kot sem že prej omenil, ne pošiljajte na RCVS originalov, temveč samo kopije (razen prej omenjenega potrdila o nekaznovanju, kjer lahko pošljete kar original saj je ta že lahko napisan v angleščini). Ko boste zadostili vsem zahtevam RCVS-ja, vas bodo povabili na prijavo. Za prijavo bo na voljo najverjetneje več datumov in izberete si samo enega. Na ta dan in ob uri, ki vam jo določijo, se morate osebno zglasiti na sedežu RCVS-a v Londonu, zamud žal ne tolerirajo :-( Belgravia House, 62- 64 Horseferry Road, London, SW1P 2AF View Larger Map (zemljevid na Google Maps, Multimap, Maps24) Ko sem se sam registriral 28. novembra 2006, je bilo tam še 7 ostalih kandidatov (bili so iz Poljske, Nemčije, Nizozemske, Singapurja...) in celoten spodaj omenjen postopek, smo opravili vsi skupaj v sejni sobi v 4. nadstropju in sicer smo:

izpolnili nek daljši obrazec (ja žal, spet izpisovanje podatkov)
izpolnili vsak po eno vrstico nekega drugega obrazca (ostale vrstice izpolnejo drugi kandidati)
pokazali vse originalne dokumente, katerih kopije ste v prvi fazi poslali na RCVS
plačali registracijo, ki jo sprejmejo izključno samo v gotovini. Čekov oz. kreditnih kartic za to plačilo ne sprejemajo. Višina registracije je tudi odvisna od obdobja v katerem se včlanjujete. Več informacij je na tej strani. Samo podaljšanje članstva pa je kasneje mogoče plačati preko drugih oblik: trajnika (samo za imetnike bančnih računov v Združenem Kraljestvu), kreditno kartico, čekom, bančnim nakazilom itd.
prebrali (vsi skupaj) zaprisego, ki se glasi:

"Inasmuch as the privilege of membership of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons is about to be conferred upon me, I PROMISE AND SOLEMNLY DECLARE that I will abide in all due loyalty to the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and will do all in my power to maintain and promote its interests. I PROMISE ABOVE ALL that I will pursue the work of my profession with uprightness of conduct and that my constant endeavour will be to ensure the welfare of animals committed to my care"

Po prebrani zaprisegi in, če so bili izpoljeni vsi ostali pogoji (izpravni dokumenti, plačana registracija...), smo uradno postali člani RCVS. Članstvo stopi v veljavo takoj in tako ni čakanja na naslednji koledarski dan ali naslednji teden. Vsak prejme seveda tudi certifikat, kjer je napisan vaš strokovni naziv ter univerza, kjer ste naziv dobili. Na spodnji levi strani je navedena tudi vaša RCVS članska številka - vsak član RCVS je namreč "prepoznaven" tudi po edinstveni članski številki, po kateri se boste lahko našli v registru članov, ki je na voljo na spletu. Kot član prejmete kasneje po pošti tudi register članov v knjižni obliki. Spletne strani z dodatnimi informacijami:

Article in English: How to work as a vet in the UK on a Slovene vet diploma

The curse of the Christmas cards

Martin McDowell — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 12:50:00 +0000

The story repeats itself every year. If you are savvy enough to start thinking which cards you intend to buy and for whom, the whole nonsense can begin as early as November. You can't really stop thinking about it or even forget the whole thing as the absence of cards from you will eventually be noticed, especially if you still appear to be among the living. You could start outright lying that you converted to Islam and that you do not recognize the whole Christmas period. And the New Year? According to the Hijri calendar, they celebrate New Year's on the 31^st of January but that only means you might end up having to send the cards o month later. In these days when we (all) have fast internet access and e-mails being sent round the world in a matter of seconds, it seems to be still quite a task to get those cards out in time. I mean, you have to first choose who's going to be on the list this year and who is out (these a very tricky political issues!), then you have to go out and buy the cards and it cannot just be any old mass-produced card, everyone will have those anyway. You also must remember, what cards you sent last year and to whom in order not to break the strict rule of sending someone the same card two years in a row. Needless to say, that the cards themselves do not come cheap - then you also have the stamps, one set for the domestics and one for the foreigners and then comes the really big task of writing the text. That for me is the deal-breaker, I would rather go swimming in the icy Volga every Tuesday than be sat behind a table full of blank Christmas cards. On the one hand you try to come up with a simple phrase that sounds nice, but then you don't want to repeat yourself and you also don't want to change the text to much as you might start to make strange references to the holidays that might get you institutionalized. OK, so lets say you have done the dreaded job and actually wrote all the cards. Then you are over the hard bit and the next part is easy. OK, the licking and the banging on the table is quite easy but once you are through, you have to get stuck in with the Christmas cards as well, the wife can only take so much attention. Well, just as much - you will have to repeat it all the next year. Its either that or should I start calling you Abdul?

The mystery of "3200 Phaethon"

Martin McDowell — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 08:24:00 +0000

The story begins in the second half of the 19^th century, 1862, to be more exact when all of a sudden people saw many shooting stars visually originating from the constellation Gemini, from which it got its name - the Geminids. They were never recorded before that date but ever since have been a regular occurrence every mid December, and the intensity of the meteor shower it produces, is growing each year.

Last year the event was less visible due to a full moon, but this year the moon had a morning crescent so it gave a great opportunity to see as many as dozens of meteors every hour. As mentioned above, they originate from the direction of the Gemini constellation, more precisely, a few degrees from the star Castor (Alpha Geminorum).

The mystery about this "object" is that that the scientists can't decide whether it is an asteroid or remnants of a dead comet. It acts like a comet all right but it has not tail. The theory is, that if it was a comet all of the ice got vaporized during its close encounters with the sun. The orbit it takes, brings it even closer to the sun than Mercury.

Whatever it is, it gave me a great performance yesterday evening. I live in Ljubljana, but as we had a very thick fog in the lower areas, I headed up towards the hills. I probably would have gotten an even better performance if I observed the sky early yesterday morning, but I still was not disappointed.

In any case, the meteor showers from 3200 Phaethon will intensify and will probably be fantastic on 14^th 2093 when the comet/asteroid will pass the Earth closest as it has ever been: 0.0198 AU (astronomical units). For you and me this is just under 3 million kilometres.

Links:

The photo of a 2004 Geminid is courtesy of Mark Vornhusen, Gais, Switzerland

Freezing on Prešeren's square

Martin McDowell — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 10:41:00 +0000

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Photo: Siddharta / Aleksander Remec"][/caption] The most popular Slovenian rock band appeared to be intending to miss the Slovene capital Ljubljana from its concert venues. They actually started their tour in Ljubljana, but only for a selected crowd of fans chosen from their online forum. This was rectified on December 27^th 2006 with a concert on the Prešeren's square at 10 PM. The concert really started at 8 PM with their into bands from the Slovene tour: naio ssaion, Leaf-fat and Tide. Apparently they started at 8 PM sharp as I managed to be a bit late and already missed Leaf-fat. At least I saw the other two play live for the first time :-) The Siddharta part was very good and I noticed they played/sang slightly better than on their first concert at the beginning of September. Their repertoire was from all their albums but especially from the last two ones Rh- and Petrolea. The concert rocked and the only drawback were the individual drunk yobs pushing their way from the back towards the stage and nearly knocking down a whole lot of us on the way. Wished I punched someones lights out.

The ghost B&B

Martin McDowell — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 12:16:00 +0000

I had some business to attend to in the UK at the end of last week and I made a reservation with a bed and breakfast near the village of Cheddleton in northern England. As the booking was done just under two weeks prior to my arrival, I didn't think it necessary to re-check. But then I got to "a" place I thought was the B&B after driving all day long and being completely knackered. I looked around and saw the house looked deserted. There were only a few caravans in the yard. It was 9 PM and I was lucky to have gotten somebody out of the caravan - it was apparently the only one occupied. Based on the help from the caravan chap I found out was was at the wrong place and the "farm" I was looking for was just about 100 m further down this very very narrow road. As I drove to this other location I again saw very little life there. The place was obviously a farm There was a car parked in the yard but otherwise, besides from some cows and pigs I could hear, the place looked deserted. I knocked on doors, rang bells, tapped on windows - nothing. I thought there might be two possibilities: as they are farm people they couldn't be bothered to stay up for me and went to bed early like they do on farms (I am presuming quite a bit here :-) or they have completely forgotten about me and had themselves a holiday or they had some sort of emergency and had to go somewhere. I presumed the latter was the case as I found out that there was a key in one of the doors to the rooms. I unlocked it and saw the room was vacant and all tidied-up. I wasn't sure what to do, but I presumed they probably left this for me but I would expect at least a massage on a piece of paper. I hesitated for a while but then finally settled in still expecting someone to barge in and accuse me of trespassing. After half an hour nothing happened so I showered and went to bed. At about 23.30 just as I was falling asleep I see car lights through the window and in a minute or two a figure appeared at the window and then someone knocking on the door and shouting who is in the room. My adrenalin rose about 1000% and as as I opened the door I got a strange look from a woman who I later found out was one half of the owners. I explained what happened and they let me go back to sleep. Needless to say I had a lot of trouble going to sleep. The next morning, as I came to have breakfast, they told me that they thought I was supposed to arrive the next day - on Saturday. They changed calendars that had the week start on a Sunday (or vice versa) so they wrote my name down for the wrong day of the week. Only when I got back to Slovenia did I realize I forgot to ask them what was the key doing in the door. Who then were they expecting?? I will never know and I am not that interested in finding out enough to call them back. Lets leave it to the old twilight zone, shall we.

Is this 21st century plumbing?

Martin McDowell — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 14:07:00 +0000

A colleague of mine a few years ago took a business trip to the United Kingdom and upon his return he described what was his experience like. And he didn't even complain much about the food (you should see the food we get in Slovenia) but what he just could not understand was the British odd sense of common household plumbing. This rang a bell with me as I have been puzzled on many occasions by the strange water systems the British have as an excuse for decent plumbing. For heaven's sake, what they are doing with the water is just weird. The first contact a visitor to the UK gets with the British waterjoke can be reached even in the posh hotel or in a normal house. You get your hands dirty and of course you want to wash them in some warm water. But once you get to the sink you find yourself in front of two taps!! How on earth is this supposed to work?! Should I get heat blisters using the left tap or numb my hands in freezing cold water using the right tap. Hmmm. Can I ask the audience? Perhaps I should resort to filling the sink with water from both and wash my hands in a filthy tepid water. Maybe that's what its all about. I've heard of people opening both taps and then quickly moving their hand left and right to somehow mix the both waters on the fly. But the weird plumbing doesn't end here. I thought it was normal to hide drainage pipes in or behind walls and not prance them on your house like a modern art exhibition. Well, the Brits do. You can see the whole intricate drainage system coming out of the rear end of the house. I guess the only positive thing about this principle is to give Joe the pipe repairman a slightly easier job than he would otherwise have.

The skydiving grandma

Martin McDowell — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 09:27:00 +0000

This is not a news story about a lady who was given a gift voucher to do a tandem jump. No, no, this actualy my mother Nataša Hacin, who is, by the way, also a grandmother, who bought herself a skydiving course here, in Slovenia, and actually finished it the next year when she passed the skydiving exam and became a proper licensed skydiver. This is no small matter even for the school itself, the school is called Paranoia and is part of the Šolt organization and is ran by Mr. Aleš Debeljak. My mother started the course in the Autumn of 2005 and gradually got better and better at skydiving. She even caught the attention of the biggest Slovene Sunday newspaper Nedelo who published an article about her. The picture seen in the linked webpage was taken at a boogie (boogie = sort of a skydiving event) at Slovenj Gradec where the conditions were very demanding as there were quite strong turbulent winds at the dropzone. May she have many great and safe jumps.

My skydiving rig arrived!

Martin McDowell — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 17:49:00 +0000

I was so glad to have finally got it. There was a bit of a delay but it is in my hands now :-) The company that manufactured it is based in Tampa, Florida. What I am talking about here is my brand new skydiving rig, also called a harness, container... It is made by Aerodyne and the model is called Icon. The purchase was made through Ettore who is the owner of Sky Sport. He arranged everything including the correct measurements. The container was made especially for me so I won't have to worry about renting a rig that doesn't fit me. The parachute container size it is made for is I5 which means it should be able to accept main rigs in the sizes between 150 - 168 and the reserve sizes 150, 160 or 175 sq. ft. The material from which the harness is made of is called "Parapack". It still looks a bit "empty" as is has nothing in it (main parachute, reserve parachute, AAD). I have dished out for the rig to have a soft reserve deployment handle and a special new design hand deploy chute handle (see photo on the right). The rig comes standard with articulated harness with hip rings and stainless steel hardware. More information on all this can be seen here.

From now on Florida speaks Slovene

Martin McDowell — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 13:26:00 +0000

In recent weeks many of the Slovene skydivers have descended on a dropzone in a town called Titusville. Before that there were many Croats skydiving there as well. Today, the number of Slovenes will increase with the arrival of our friends from the Maribor (Skoke) DZ. Beside that a great many are currently occupying the Skyventure Orlando wind tunnel. More info on the matter can be found on the Slovene skydiving portal Padalstvo.com, more specifically on this forum thread. Here are also a few pics from my friend Miha. Photo takem from www.mihavalencic.com

Reserve parachute and AAD

Martin McDowell — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 13:50:00 +0000

Now it seem to be all happening. I received the PD reserve 160 and the Cypres 2 Expert 1-pin AAD last week. I would expect the Cypres to come in a nice packet, which it did, but I didn't have a clue how the parachute would be packed. Well, it literally came "as is". I put it in a bag myself so it wouldn't get stained or damaged - not that a plastic bag is any real protection. The reserve parachute is made by a company called Performance Designs based in DeLandand, Florida, US and the Cypres AAD by a German company Airtec GmbH based in Bad Wünnenberg in Germany. I hope I never have to use them both actively, but its good to know they are new and hopefully in good working order. Now all I have to wait for is the main parachute from Škofja Loka and I am set to hand everything over to a rigger so he/she can put it all together. The last piece of equipment is an audible altimeter + a jump data tracker in one. It is made by a Danish compancy Larsen & Brusgaard and the instrument is called ProTrack.

Google Apps and Blogger in the same domain

Martin McDowell — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 20:10:00 +0000

This post is quite a bit nerdy so, readers, beware! [nerdiness=on] I posted this on the Google Apps group last week. I registered my domain martinmcdowell.com through Google Apps and wanted to use the same domain with Blogger, but using a sub-domain blog.martinmcdowell.com. I know Blogger allows the use of your own domain, but I wasn't sure if it will work with a sub-domain and also, if this will disrupt the functionality of Google Apps. I found out, it worked. As I said, I registered the domain martinmcdowell.com though Google Apps and wanted to use it for my blog at Blogger.com. You do understand that I cannot be responsible, if everything goes tits-up but I do say that this worked for me very well. What you have to do is the following: 1. go to Blogger.com, sign in and go to Settings - Publishing - use own domain. I entered blog.martinmcdowell.com and saved the settings. 2. then you have to change the CNAME table at the registrars: this is done by signing in http://tdns.secureserver.net using the sign-in number and password you can see in Google Apps settings. The instructions on doing this are here: https://www.google.com/support/a/bin/answer.py?answer=47610 The alias I used was "blog" I saved it and it worked straight away. Sometimes you have to wait longer (a few days) for the DNS servers to update. [nerdiness=off]

HalifaxSucks.com

Martin McDowell — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 18:43:00 +0000

I was going to write this post thinking that such a website does not exist and that my bad experience with this bank is unique. Oh no, I stand corrected, the site does exist, sort of, under the UK domain system (http://www.halifaxsucks.co.uk), but it does describe the banking problems of just one individual which is not really what I would be looking for. I don't know what kind of security systems other UK banks have but I have been bitterly disappointed with the one Halifax has. In Slovenia, where I live at the moment, many of the banks use a on-line system of digital certificates which encrypts the contents between your computer and the bank's server. All Halifax is a complicated system of passwords and user names and security questions. And if you forget any of your passwords, tough luck, which is what has happened to me. "Visit your branch" they say, which at the moment, according to Google maps is exactly 1602 kilometres from here. I have asked my skydiving forum buddies on UKS to advise me on which bank to choose and I got many replies.

The Paranoia skydiving school will soon be back

Martin McDowell — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 11:32:00 +0000

I have just read on the Paranoia website, that their skydiving school in Ljubljana will soon be continuing classes, just as soon Aleš, the school's instructor, will come back from a skydiving trip to the US. Aleš has been away for a few weeks now and am sure there were a lot of anticipating skydiving wannabes just bursting to jump out of a perfectly good air plane. Please call him after March 23 to arrange classes. This great photo accompanying this post was shot by Miha Valenčič during their skydiving trip in Florida. It is just astounding how many facial expressions can be mashed-up into one o:-) Photo takem from www.mihavalencic.com

What kind of spring weather

Martin McDowell — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 18:24:00 +0000

Winter in March 2007

The meteorological office has been warning about this but a lot of us just thought that they were making another erroneous forecast - it turned out to be absolutely true.

We have snow in March 2007!!!

Don't get me wrong, we had snow in March last year, and lots of it, but considering what this year was like snow-wise, it is very surprising to see it at all. So this meant I will have to put on the winter shoes and leave the car at home. We have a law in this country that we have to have winter tires on our cars in the winter season (from the 15^th of November to the 15^th of March). I tried to be wiser this year so I changed the tires back to the summer ones earlier than usual so this snow is a nice evidence of Murphy's revenge.
I hope that the afternoon warmer temperatures will remove the inconvenience soon.

Siddharta and Dan D

Martin McDowell — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 17:33:00 +0000

History shows us that on many occasions marrying two music groups just on the merit of them both being cool does not always bare fruit. This definitely cannot be said in the case of the recent collaboration of Siddharta and Dan D, both Slovene rock/pop groups that are very good when performing their own songs but have created an instant hit with joining the songs "Voda" ba Dan D and Siddharta's "Male roke". The first airing of the song was a really a surprise performance at the 2006 Viktors - the Slovene version of the Oscars, but the range of awards is much wider. Perhaps the fact, that other award shows in the past were phased out, has something to do with that. The song was then, again, performed live at the Sunday afternoon entertainment show called "Tistega Lepega Popoldneva" or TLP for short.

Here at last

Martin McDowell — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 14:58:00 +0000

I have finally made to Wales. More information will follow as I have no internet connection here, hopefully only for the moment.

The trip to Wales (Ljubljana to Salzburg)

Martin McDowell — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 15:00:00 +0000

After having a chance to get my bearings I have finally got finger to keyboard to write about the trip. Unfortunately I still do not have an internet connection and despite having a wireless-enables laptop I still cannot get to use someone's wireless router to get online. Sorry folks but desperate times call for desperate measures. I heard a while ago that many used unsecured WiFi networks but where the hell are they when you really need them. The trip itself went smoothly even though I was worried about the Easter traffic. I did see some congestion on the opposite side of the motorways but my side saw little of it, there were only two real congestions, one of them was tiny on the Munich bypass and one bigger one near Karlsruhe (both in Germany). I saw a fair bit of tunnels, especially (or should I say exclusively) on the Austrian side, but it all started off with the Karavanke tunnel (over 8 km long) which started on the Slovenian side near Jesenice and ended on the Austrian side. After that the tunnels kept repeating like there were no tomorrow and ended with the mother of all tunnels – the Taurntunnel which was a gazillion kilometres long. Oh, and I nearly forgot, even though you have to pay a vignette for driving on the Austrian motorway system you still have to pay about 9 and a half Euros for the privilege for driving through their big tunnel. Relatively soon after that came Salzburg and the road almost immediately continued into Germany. Images from the trip have all been stored in my Picasa web album.

Travel to Wales

The trip to Wales (Germany)

Martin McDowell — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 15:01:00 +0000

I watched a documentary on one of the satellite channels a while ago about the might of the Germany autobahns and well they are constructed. I even remember how good they were the last time I used them on the trip to Scotland in 1999. This time, however, it was obvious, that they can be quite bad. After Munich the motorway took me towards Stuttgart and road was really bad: no breakdown lane, the speed limit was only 120 km/h or less and close to Stuttgart there was one work site after the other so most of that part was driven on a contraflow. Once you enter Germany you instantly see a big change in traffic. In Austria everybody drives much slower, they even had a 100 km/h speed limit just for the sake of cleaner air (if my German did not fail me and I read the sign correctly). At the border itself you even have to drive a ridiculous 80 km/h. Not so in Germany, the road apparently had no speed limits – as is the case for all German “autobahns” except of course the one bloody bit between Munich and Stuttgart I mentioned earlier.

The trip to Wales (from the The Netherlands to the Channel tunnel)

Martin McDowell — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 15:02:00 +0000

The trip got a bit boring after that, I knew the German part was ending soon as I passed Aachen. The Dutch part was completely uneventful, but I did get some pictures on a lay-by of absolutely nothing interesting. After that came Belgium and Brussels with it. I heard of people missing the circular road round Brussels and I nearly missed it using the sat-nav. The drivers around Brussels are just about ready for being committed. I was actually worried, much more than I was on the German roads. And one thing I noticed from the trip in 1999. Belgium smells, quite badly, in fact. Those of you who don't know why I can tell you its because of the many pig farms they have there that give Belgium a much non-chocolate kind of aroma. I hardly realized that I was in France – the language was the same, it just had different road signs. The Calais channel tunnel terminal was pretty straight forward, as I have already paid for the ticket on-line I only had to stick the credit card I paid it with, in the machine, and it printed out the ticket. Then there was a parking lot that had displays that told you to proceed toward the train. Each train trip was marked with a letter, mine was “N”. So you do you passport controls, and a check of the ticket and you get in a queue. After that you get on the train and that is it. The trip took only 35 minutes and it just takes you long enough to shut your eyes for a while and get some rest.

The trip to Wales (the UK)

Martin McDowell — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 15:03:00 +0000

I reserved a hotel in Ashford and it took me less than half an hour to get there from Folkstone – the UK side of the Channel tunnel. It was 1 o'clock in the morning CET :-( I was a bit worried leaving all my stuff in the car on an unsecured parking lot and at about 4.30 in the morning I got a scare as I woke up and heard a car alarm. After quickly putting on some clothes and rushing down to the parking lot I realized it was a different car parked somewhere far away.

The rest of the day was quite uneventful and boring all the way to Wales. I arrived in Haverfordwest at about 15.00 GMT.

This was the house I arrived in. Its called Bryn Illtyd and is located in a very small village of Hill mountain, about 10 km out of Haverfordwest.

Bryn Illtyd

Walking the Pembrokeshire coast

Martin McDowell — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 18:37:00 +0000

It was a nice day and I wanted to see what the place, I was living, looked at. I headed from Haverfordwest to Fishguard and just continued on towards Cardigan. I stopped on a lay-by to answer the mobile when I saw there was a sign on the side of the road indicating to the path to the coast walk. Here are the pictures and a few videos I took.

Pembrokeshire coast

Martin McDowell — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 15:39:00 +0000

I took a great trip towards a little town called Fishbourne and continued towards Cardigan from there. Just by chance I stopped the car at a lay-by that had a little sign that showed the direction towards the coastal path. I was the only one on the lay-by and I took my chance thinking it will probably end with a locked gate or a very strict “Private” sign. There was none of that, except for a couple of gates which were clearly meant to be used by visitors. The pictures of the spectacular coastal cliffs can be found on my Picasa website.

At a certain part of the walk there was a sign that visitors should stay on the path for their own safety but I still got tempted to go on top of a round protruding hill on top of a peninsula. I presume the warning about keeping to the path is meant for our safety but you have to take a bit of a risk every now and then to see nature in all its beauty. The climb was nothing compared to the climbs I had to do in the Alps (and I haven't had to do many, believe me, except the one on the highest Slovenian peak called Triglav). It was well worth the risk as I hope you can see from the photos and video.

Bristol in April

Martin McDowell — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 20:32:00 +0000

As part of my mission to return to the veterinary profession I also payed for a training called "Retraining course in Small Animal Practice" that was held at Bristol University from the 16 to the 20 of Apr 2007. After that I drove into Bristol and had a little walkabout that took me the better part of Saturday to complete. One the way in I saw this beautiful sight of a Brunnel bridge but I could not stop anywhere good to take a picture. Here is one I nicked from Paul Townend's website: When I was standing in the centre of Bristol, actually it was the "floating harbour" I took this panoramic video shot.

Martin's blog is not dead

Martin McDowell — Tue, 08 May 2007 12:25:00 +0000

As I have moved to Wales I haven't been able to update my blog so far. One of the biggest reason is that I don't have internet access, where I live. I hope to rectify this ASAP. Once this is accomplished, I will publish various posts, including how mt trip to Wales went along.

Hope to see you back soon.

My second start as a vet

Martin McDowell — Thu, 10 May 2007 15:54:00 +0000

Closer I got to starting to work at the vet clinic, the more I dreaded the moment and the more I felt not being up for the job seeing that I haven't practised vet medicine for so long. The first day of worked showed me, how much I great team of co-workers can help, when you are not sure of your own abilities to get the job done.

I was afraid about performing operations as I had little experience from before, but I actually did so much on the first day and I didn't have the feeling I was doing something I wasn't really supposed so.

Swansea DZ closed

Martin McDowell — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 15:56:00 +0000

I called the Swansea DZ yesterday. I have had this plan to continue skydiving in the UK but didn't have the nerve to do it. I finally got into contact with the DZ's managers who told me, that the DZ was closed due to a dispute with the Swansea airport management. More about this: http://www.ukskydiver.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=5590

Pembrokeshire 10-Jun-2007

Martin McDowell — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 20:06:00 +0000

The day was made for a sightseeing tour, the weather was sunny, no rain forecasted and so I went for it. My first destination was St. David's with it renown Whitesands beach. The parking very close to the beach so you don't need to walk very far to the surf. The parking fee is about £3 and lasted for the whole day. The beach is actually very good and as the its name depicts - is sandy. Because there weren't to many waves the water was very clear but unfortunately very very cold. I managed to go just as far as the middle of my shins. Click the picture on the upper left to enter the web album. I continued my walk on the coastal part, heading south. I only came to a small unimpressive beach and decided to turn back. I drove towards Fishguard and followed on to Cardigan. I didn't stop in Cardigan but just drove through it. It seemed like it had a lovely town centre but that was it. On the way back home I crossed the Preseli hills and just by accident saw what looked like a lake about 500 m from the road. I lated found out it is called Rosebush reservoir. It looked very nice from where I was standing with nice sloping fields on it one of its side and a pine forest on the other. I tried stopping by the side of the road to approach it but could not as there was place I could do that. I then tried driving around the are thinking I might stumble upon some sort of on a approach road. No way. It is apparently completely blocked off by fields and other private property. Such a shame. Luckily I, again by chance, found the other, much bigger Llys-y-frân reservoir, which is fed by a stream that comes out of the Rosebush reservoir. The Llys-y-frân reservoir has a path all the way around it. As it was past 17 in the afternoon I decided to leave any sort of Llys-y-frân trek for a later date when I could dedicate the whole day just for that.

Wales v. Slovenian weather

Martin McDowell — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 18:18:00 +0000

Tomorrow will be marked by the summer solstice - the longest day in the year and it definately shows in this part of Europe, being so far north compared to Slovenia. The sun sets very late and the twilight lasts well into the late evening. But the strangest thing is the weather and especially the temperatures. Just a little while ago I checked the temperatures in Ljubljana was 30°C when it was only 17°C in Haverfordwest. It actually gets so cold during parts of the day that we turn on the heating in the house I am staying out.
But I'll be honest and tell you that I quite like it as it is. In some parts of Slovenia it was forecasted as 35°C and that is way to high for me, thank you very much. I'd rather be a little colder here than be boiling hot in Slovenia ;-)
The only problem I encounter is on a Friday night when I want to be outside to have a beer and find I have to retreat inside or think ahead and bring along a sweater.

Skiing in Birmingham

Martin McDowell — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 10:51:00 +0000

Last weekend our flatmate Mark celebrated his "30th" birthday by having a big party at our house, Bryn Illtyd. As a birthday present Clare, Dan and myself bought him a three hour session at the Birmingham Snowdome. It was really Clare's idea and it was a good one. We left Haverfordwest at about 14.30 and arrived at the local Travelodge at 19.00. The session started at 8 so we had enough time to change and of, course, have a beer.

Click on the picture above to see the full photo album.

The Birmingham Snowdome is actually a big building in the city of Tamworth housing a swimming pool, skating arena and other stuff but the biggest attraction is the snow arena in a shape of the letter "L" where you take a conveyor belt up the longer part of the letter "L" then change over to a smaller part that is perpendicular to the first one. The slope is 170m long and the snowdome is covered by, what they call, "real" snow. In Slovenian terms this is actually artificial snow as it the real snow is only the one that falls from the sky. But if you said artificial snow in the UK, you would probably be meaning some sort of artificial plastic mass for witch to ski/board on. The ski slope is not very long as you might imagine but it beats having to travel abroad and you cannot ski in Austria during the summer (usually). For those who have skied at Kranjska gora the ski piste in the Snowdome is about half the length of the "Tinkara" piste.

One there I was surprised to see how many boarders there were. The last time I was skiinng, which was on the ski resort of Krvavec, there were only a few boarders and the majority were still skiers. Here, at the Snowdome, it was the other way round. Most of the skiers were "slightly older" so that made me feel all nice and fuzzy (NOT) - that and the fact I was kept being called a "queer" by my two boarding flatmates (the tossers). Well, at least I beat them at the downhill race TWICE so all is not lost for us skiers.

St. Anne's head

Martin McDowell — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 08:00:00 +0000

This is actually the tip of the peninsula close to Dale that is one of the gates to the Milford Haven harbour - one of Britain's deep water harbours. The first lighthouse was built on this location in 1714 but the one you can see now on this location is from 1841. During the 2^nd Wold war there was a whole complex of buildings around it that were used as a training centre for pilots and radar operators. The strange and amusing fact about this was that because of the lack of planes during the war the student pilots could not use real planes but had to instead use confiscated Walls ice cream tricycles. Later the site was a training site for meteorologists. The site was closed in 1960 and many years later it was taken over by the Pembrokeshire's national park. Even though the site is currently off limits to "us ordinaries" as the road and site are private (well, walkers can come through but that is about it). The lighthouse and adjacent buildings are a B&B/guesthouse. However there is still some fenced-off buildings there that are used for fog warnings. There is a board on the closed gates that warns visitors that the fog horn could go off at any time without warning even causing possible deafness. Just so you know ;-)

The Bryn Illtyd bunch

Martin McDowell — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 20:00:00 +0000

I have written quite a lot about Wales and Pembrokeshire and I haven't really written about the house I am living in. Before I left Ljubljana and I was thinking of possible accommodation, I thought it would be a good idea if instead of renting an apartment, where I would be all alone I would actually rent just a room in a house and share the rest of the house with others.

I would definitely recommend this to others who intent to travel to distant places, where they don't have any family or friends as your housemates might be the only company you will find besides workemates. And if you get the sort of housemates I have then you will definately be OK. The name of the house, where I am staying is called Bryn Illtyd, and the first weekend I spent there I got invited out on the twon with all three housemates Dan, Clare and Mark. It was the Easter bank holiday and that made the homesickness even worse. Since then I have been out partying mor etimes then in the last year before moving to Wales. I will actually have to get used to going to sleep at 3am on Saturday morning. But who cares when you don't have to get up early to go to work and you and your housemates take a nice leisurely trip to the Bristol Trader and have a cool beer and a good breakfast. (I will have to write a separate blog article just on our 'special' Haverfordwest pub crawl)

Bodyflight Bedford indoor skydiving [or how to fly around a room and not having a hangover the next day]

Martin McDowell — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 18:11:00 +0000

I have added 11 new pictures I had stored on my Nokia N95 that has a photo camera included.

It was a great day probably more suitable for outdoor skydiving than indoor skydiving. I set of from home early Saturday morning and arrived at Bedford five and a half hours later after stupidly ignoring my satnav and adding another hour to my already long journey. The Bodyflight facility is situated in a generally abandoned ex-military complex outside of Bedford near the A6. I heard it was used to do tests for the Concorde. One of the things it does include besides Bodyflight is also a Red Bull formula 1 wind tunnel testing facility. OK, if anyone is interested in going there be prepared to do a bit of walking - up the soddin' stairs. To get to the Bodyflight reception they make you walk up all the way to the third floor :-) I soon found my mates Jaks, Petra, Emillio and Maja exercising 4-way positions on the Bodyflight training room. It was nice to see them all after all this time away, I also got the opportunity to speak more Slovene than in all the last three months in total. You can see the picture gallery on my Picasa site. The wind tunnel in Bedford is one of the biggest (if not the biggest) in the world as it is 5m wide. It is also probably built much better than the more common US Skyventure wind tunnels. You can see it was not originally built for skydiving - not to put down the sport but usually skydiving is not a big business as there is not a lot of money involved in its funding - even at competition level you still have to invest quite a lot of your own money into the sport. Although Jaka, Petra, Emillio and Maja took this opportunity to do their proper wind-tunnel training and o use the experience gained for "real" throwyourselfoutofaairplane skydiving, I just tried to improve my freefall posture and movements. In the end I "only" did 20 minutes altogether in 2 days but I found out I had quite a few flaws in my posture but also that I could figure out how to move around in freefall by intuitively move the right part of my body. David Sawyer, one of the Bodyflight instructors, made me realize that I was still much to stiff in the upper body and Jason Richardson, that I was much to less rigid in my lower body - legs. I would probably need a few more jumps to bring it all together. The truth is, if anyone has done a few skydive jumps before going in a wind tunnel do NOT expect the same feeling - believe me, it is different as flying within a confine of a wind tunnel does strange things to your senses. The air flow is also different, especially if there are more skydivers in the tunnel. But it does make it easier to correct any wrong postures as you feel immediately if you are not stable and moving up or down or towards the wall. And because there is a wall there I suggest you equip yourself with elbow and knee protectors - don't worry, they are provided by Bodyflight on request.

Bantu Britanija

Martin McDowell — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 18:20:00 +0000

Ker tale moj spletni dnevnik berete večinoma prijatelji in znanci iz Slovenije sem se odločil, da napišem nekaj člankov tudi v slovenščini – to in še razlog, da tole, kar bom napisal, ni ravno laskavo državi v kateri trenutno živim. Ker sem kar nekaj let preživel v službah, ki so imele bolj ali manj zveze z informatiko, se malo spoznam tudi na računalniške posle in preden sem prispel v Wales, sem upal, da bom lahko z domovino veliko komuniciral preko medmrežja. Danes lahko delaš skoraj vse: od pošiljanja e-pisem do kramljanja po telefonu s hkratnim video prenosom in navsezadnje tudi gledanje TV Slovenija preko spleta. Vendar sem šele zdaj v Walesu ugotovil, kako pomembna je osnovna informacijska infrastruktura, da lahko vse prej omenjeno teče, kot bi moralo. Najbolje je, da težavo opišem na lastnem primeru. V hiši, kjer živim, imajo samo potegnjen (parico) ponudnika British Telecom (BT), medmrežje pa sem si naročil preko ponudnika Virgin media (VM). VM na TV na veliko razglaša hitrosti do 8MB/s in to se smatra za največjo možno za navadne smrtnike v tej državi. Telefonska linija BT, ki je v tej hiši, pa omogoča zgolj največ 2MB/s. V redu, ni problema, toliko sem namreč imel v Ljubljani in mi je čisto zadostovalo za osnovno delo. Ko pa sem medmrežje dejansko zagnal sem opazil zelo zelo nizke hitrosti, ki so bile bolj primerljive klicnemu dostopu. Na spletni strani VM so opisali, da je to zato, ker se naj bi izvajali neki testi in bi se morala hitrost postopno zviševati. No, in se je, ampak samo do 1MB/s. Na BT pa so mi kasneje povedali, da dejansko linija omogoča le okoli 500 KB/s. To pa ni tako dobro in izkazalo se je, da je to zaradi slabe kvalitete telefonske linije ter oddaljenosti od centrale – to res drži, samo od centrale sem oddaljen le nekaj km! In to tudi ni le dejstvo v Walesu, temveč tudi linija pri očetu, ki živi v gosto naseljeni južni Angliji, ne more dobiti več kot 2 MB/s. Vse skupaj se mi zdi precej absurdno glede na dejstvo, da se v Sloveniji pogovarjajo o principu FTTH (fibre to the home oz. Optični kabel do doma) in ravno to bodo potegnili do hiše moje mame, ki živi v bližini neke vasice na Dolenjskem!! Da ne govorim o popolnoma drugi zadevi – mobilni telefoniji. Mobitel in Simobil sta se velikokrat izgovarjala na slab sprejem zaradi razgibanosti slovenskega terena in predstavljal sem si, da v teko ploščati deželi, kot je Velika Britanija teh težav ni in da mobilni telefon dela kot „sneta skira“. Žal ne, ne samo v Walesu, tudi malo severno od Londona se mi je dogajalo, da je signal iz 5 črtic padel na nulo in mi prekinil telefonski klic, v večini primerov pa se mi dogaja, da signala sploh ni. Tako da dragi Slovenci, prav je, da se pritožujete nad napakami operaterjev kot so Telekom Slovenije, Mobitel, Simobil, T2, SiOL... ampak vedite, da se lahko brez pomislekov hudomušno nasmehnete onemu rožnatemu Angležu, ki se v soboto sprehaja po Prešercu, da je v državi, ki ima informacijsko infrastrukturo daleč daleč bolj razvito od njihove.

A better look at Wales

Martin McDowell — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 14:20:00 +0000

My mother came over from Slovenia to visit me and I took the opportunity to see a bit more of Wales than I did till now. One of the things I wanted to try out was the Venture Jet speed boat trips. The one we took is called Wet'n'Wild where we did a whole lot of high speed stuff but also saw a bit of the wildlife, including some inquisitive seals. The trip involved the Ramsey Island. The next day we stayed at the impressive Brynafon Hotel in Rhayader. If you ever get around staying there I would strongly suggest booking an evening meal there as the food is absolutely fantastic. And just as an example I can tell you I ordered the Smoked haddock fishcake with a lightly poached egg with a messine sauce as a starter and the Chestnut & wild mushroom roulade with a white wine and tarragon sauce for the main meal. And to top it off I had a very good and very simple dark choc truffle. Yum :-) Click on the picture above to see the whole photo album. The next day we saw quite a bit of the Elan valley that is just about 15 minutes away by car. I would suggest that you see the place after a good rainfall as the artificial waterfals flowing over the dam are very impressive. Also I suggest going to the visitors centre and walking up to the dam (this one is called the Craig Coch dam) and then walking up either side. If you go up the right side you will end up where the road meets the dam wall and you could reach that by driving by car - but what enjoyment would you get from that ;-) However if you continue driving up this road you will see most of the other dams and their reservoirs in the Elan valley. At the end of the road you join up with the Ystwyth valley (Cwmystwyth in Welsh) or as it is originally called "Vale of Ystwyth". This is a spectacular valley taking you from the sceneries you see in the Elan valley to deep grassy valleys with streams you see in Scotland to an old mining village and ending in a more wooded part that looks remarkably like Slovenia. If you follow the road you end up at the Devil's bridge where you can see the local attraction of the three bridges (it is actually bridges built on top of each other, each wider and, of course, higher). They didn't see a reason to demolish the old bridges and you can still see much detail of the bridge in the middle with its metal railing fence. Picture on left courtesy of William M. Connolley, August 2005 Below the Devil's bridge is actually another walk that takes you to some very nice waterfalls. There are about 600 steps on the walk and I am not sure if the number relates only to the ones going up as there are quite a few going down. I actually managed to hurt my knee on the way up with no particular reason or obvious injury. The Devil's bridge village is knows for its three attractions, the third one is the little narrow gauge steam railway that climbs through the verdant Vale of Rheidol from Aberystwyth, twelve miles away to the west, on the wets Wales coast. After that we took some quick refreshements at the Hafod Hotel we returned to Rhayader to look at the feeding of the nearly extinct "Red kite (Milvus milvus)" - a bird of prey. It also has a Slovene name: "rjavi škarnik" (also known as "rdeči škarnjek" or "rjavi škarjek", but it doesn't live in Slovenia. First we thought we were late as we arrived at a quarter past three and the feeding started at three. But it all started to happen after about 15-20 minutes, there we more and more kites in the sky and in the end they filled the whole sky like a swarm. Most of them picked up the scattered pieces of meat mid flight but a few actually landed and had a nice relaxing feed. There is a photo about it in the album, but you cannot see the red kites very well as they were always on the move - and the camera I use is not very sophisticated. There were people that took much better photos and you can see them on the Red kite website. Here are also some videos taken from the trip. They were all shot with the same camera as the photos, so the video quality is not so great. Video 1: The Caban Coch dam (1): Video 2: The Caban Coch dam (2) Video 3: The Caban Coch dam (3) Video 3: Elan Valley Pen y Garreg Dam Video 4: Cwmystwyth vale of Ystwyth Video 4: Devils bridge waterfalls

Išče se veterinar

Martin McDowell — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 18:59:00 +0000

Tale prispevek je čisto zares in žal pokaže tudi razliko med veterino v Sloveniji in Veliki Britaniji. Klinika, v kateri delam, že nekaj časa išče nadomestilo za veterinarko, ki bo šla v kratkem na porodniški dopust. Objavljali smo oglase v veterinarskih oglasnikih, kot je npr. "Veterinary record" in imeli celo neko dekle na razgovoru a se za službo žal ni prijavil nihče. Res, da je Haverfordwest oz. Wales v celoti bolj stran od dogajanja a tu le ni tako slabo. Ampak očitno se le pozna pomanjkanje veterinarjev v tej državi in nam zato še do danes ni uspelo dobiti novega človeka. In čisto zares so me spraševali, če poznam koga, ki bi prišel iz Slovenije delat na našo kliniko - bi ga/jo bili zelo veseli. Torej, če si veterinar in te zanima delo v tujini, se lahko prijaviš :-) Več podatkov lahko dobiš na spletni strani klinike.

No smoking, please

Martin McDowell — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 18:03:00 +0000

Image via Wikipedia

Flash movie is shown on www.smokingbanwales.co.uk I see that Slovenia is quite behind the smoking ban that is in the process of being inforced across the EU. I arrived in Wales on the 7th of April and that was the weekend, when the ban started here. There was no big deal, however we will see what will happen in a few months time when the temperature drops. The ban was enforced just before the summer and it was followed by a very warm period. Many smokers took refuge in having a smoke outside bars and pubs. The ban was first imposed in Scotland a couple of weeks earlier and much later in England in August 2007. Since the ban I have had the privilege to visit a pub and not come out stinking as an ashtray. And what I saw on the Slovene TV Dnevnik today was absolutely absurd, having a smoking evening with everybody lighting up and above all the ventilation was turned off. Mad!

Končno, selitev

Martin McDowell — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 18:00:00 +0000

Razmere v hiši, kjer živim trenutno, so bile malo preveč »zanimive« in še ponavljajoči se kiksi lastnika (landlorda) so mi šli že pošteno na živce. V lokalnem časopisu sem že nekaj tednov iskal morebitno novo lokacijo in si jih tudi nekaj ogledal. Na koncu pa mi je bilo še najbolj všeč stanovanje v čisto novi hiši nedaleč od kraja, kjer trenutno živim. Ponujeno mi je bilo ali stanovanje v pritličju ali stanovanje v 1. nadstropju. Zaradi lepšega razgleda (oz razgleda sploh) in boljše razporeditve prostorov, sem si izbral zgornje stanovanje. Je dvosobno (oz. po britansko »enospalnično«). Najemnina je seveda nekoliko višja sedaj, a kaj je to za veterinarsko plačo - ne pozabit, da so veterinarji tu razmeroma dobro plačani, pa čeprav sem trenutno na »začetniški« plači. Pa še nekaj o stanovanju. Nahaja se v kraju oz. urbani vasici Johnston, ki sodi pod Haverfordwest. Nahaja se okoli 50m stran od prometne ceste A4076, ki povezuje mesti Milford Haven in Haverfordwest. Od slednjega je oddaljeno okoli 5km in do službe rabim okoli 5 minut, če je promet redek. Jeseni, ko se spet začne šola, zna biti precej drugače, na kar so me opozorili sodelavci, ki se redno vozijo v službo iz te smeri. Bom pač moral poiskat kakšen obvoz ali pa se odkidat pol ure prej.

Ni važno katera znamka je, samo da je Volkswagen

Martin McDowell — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 09:14:00 +0000

Čez slabo uro se odpravljam na pot v valežansko mesto Newport, kjer nameravam, če bo vse po sreči, kupiti rabljen avto z volanom na napačni strani. Vožnja s slovenskim avtomobilom z volanom na pravi strani je precej moteča in občasno kar nevarna, sploh zaradi slepih kotov, ki jih v vožnji v Sloveniji skoraj ne bi zaznal. Že nekaj časa sem se ubadal z mislijo, kateri avto izbrati, a naj bo nov ali rabljen... in še najraje bi vzel Golfa, takega, kot ga že imam. Odpravim sem se v eno večjih avtomobilskih supermarketov, kjer pa praktično ne prodajajo "starih" golfov 4. generacije temveč samo nove, 5. generacije. Ti pa so žal še vedno precej dragi in se ne splačajo. Za precej nižjo ceno bi si lahko privoščil nekaj let starega Passata, kar pa sedaj tudi nameravam storiti. Edina težava je v tem, da je trgovina na drugem koncu južnega Wales-a in do tja rabim dobre dve uri z avtom oz. dve uri in pol z vlakom. Veseli me vsaj to, da me bo prišel iskat predstavnik podjetja na železniško postajo v Newportu. Upam :-) Imam celo že sliko avta in ga bom najverjetneje lahko domov odpeljal kar takoj, samo še registrirati ga moram. To lahko, baje, v tej državi narediš kar na pošti. Cool :-) Moram počasi zaklučit in se pripravit na pot, vlak imam okoli četrt čez enajsto.

Z avtom že težave :-(

Martin McDowell — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 17:33:00 +0000

No, pa se je že začelo. Težava sicer ne izgleda resna, bi pa lahko bila. V avtu je pri normalni vožnji naprej volan zamaknjen za kar nekaj stopinj v levo. Na servisu so mi omenili, da bi lahko bilo zaradi slabo nastavljenega volanskega obroča (po npr. kakem popravilu), lahko de je prišlo do napake pri ponovni namestitvi kolesa. V najslabšem primeru pa gre za poškodbo podvozja. Izgleda, da mogoče le ni kaka huda stvar, ker se mi niti ne prižiga nobena lučka na armaturi niti mi avto tudi med hitro vožnjo ne trese ali ropota. Samo zdaj so težave s firmo Carcraft, kjer sem avto kupil in ki bi morala kriti garancijo. Najprej so mi rekli naj grem na VW servis in izvem, kaj je narobe. Tam ti te ocene v pisni obliki ne upajo dati ne da bi avto pogledali, ura mehanika pa je 70 funtov. Na Carcraftu mi potem pravijo naj grem na Kwikfit servis, vendar v bližini ni nobenega in še specializirani so za sklopke, zavore in izpušne sisteme. Za ostalo dejansko pojma nimajo. OK, v tem trenutku mi že vre in spet pokličem Carcraft in me dajo na čakanje, potem pa mi po dolgem čakanju povedo, da naj bi šel na nek drug servis, ki naj bi bil v bližini in da me bodo klicali še danes. Pa so me en klinc klicali. V Veliki Britaniji naj bi obstajalo pravilo "obdobje ohladitve", ki traja 7 dni in daje pogodbenim strankam en teden, da si premislijo. Ampak bi mi bilo res žal se odpovedati avtu, ker je sicer zelo v redu. Pa še med čakanjem na VW servisu se začne z menoj pogovarjati neka druga stranka in mi pove, da ima njegov Passat že nevemkoliko tisoč milj in dela kot sneta s'kira in da je to že njegov tretji Passat in da ni boljšega. No, upam, da se bo to pri mojem izkazalo za res.

Ni, ni, telefona

Martin McDowell — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 17:58:00 +0000

Spet ena na temo bantu Britanije... Če slučajno koga že en čas nisem kontaktiral oz. ka poklical preko Skype-a je to zato, ker mi ta k***** British Telecom (BT) še vedno ni prišel aktivirat telefonske linije, ki je žal edina možna pot za dostop do interneta. BT se pač obnaša kot monopolist in se jim malodane fučka. Klical sem jih že nekajkrat in tudi poslal uradno pritožbo, zgodi pa se popolnoma in čisto NIČ. Žal je Thatherjeva naredila precejšnjo napako, ko je šla privatizirat BT, ko trg še ni bil niti malo ne zrel. Ne bo ravno hvalil Slovenskega Telekoma, vendar le-tega privatiziramo takrat, ko ima navaden slovenski uporabnik (v večini) vsaj še kakega konkurenta, kot npr. T2, kabelski operater...

Še en teden do odhoda

Martin McDowell — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 11:05:00 +0000

No, še ta teden gre mimo, potem pa grem na pot. Če bo šlo vse po načrtih, se odpravim v nedeljo zjutraj in se vmes ustavim še pri očetu, nato pa do Folkestone-a na vlak, ki pelje pod Rokavskim prelivom, potem pa v tem vrstnem redu: Francija, Belgija, Nizozemska, Nemčija, Avstrija in potem domača Slovenija. Ne morem ravno reči rodna, bi pa z veseljem.

Tipična fora pri Murphiju: ravno v petek sem imel servis za novega Passata, v začetku tedna pa začutim, da mi v Golfu nagajajo zavore. Tako sem imel v četrtek servis za en avto, v petek pa za drugega. En sam strošek s temi avtomobili. Zdaj samo upam, da mi bodo prodajalci Passata upoštevali garancijo in plačali stroške popravila, ki pa sicer niso ravno veliki. Očitno so neki loleki odmontirali volan in ga zmontirali nazaj, ne da bi pri tem preverili, da so kolesa poravnana naprej. Strošek: 41 funtov+drobiž.

Telefonska linija padla z neba

Martin McDowell — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 18:34:00 +0000

Ne vem kateremu BT božanstvu se imam za zahvalit ampak danes so se končno zmigali in mi prišli priklopit telefonsko linijo. Zadeva je bila urejena v kakih petih minutah, saj je bilo že vse priklopljeno v centrali. Vse kar je moral narediti je test linije in test telefona. Telefonski test ni bil uspešen, ker tip ni znal delat s telefonom, ki je by the way običajen Siemens Gigaset.
No, pomembno da deluje. Še ni minila ura ko sem si že izpeljal naročilo za dostop do širokopasovnega medmrežja (Fast.co.uk). Niso ravno najcenejši, imajo pa samo 3 mesece minimalne pogodbe (ostali večinoma 1 leto ali več) ter so bili ocenjeni, kot najboljši ponudnik širokopasovnega omrežja na spletni strani ISP Review UK.

Johnston 2 Ljubljana = 2080 km

Martin McDowell — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 08:36:00 +0000

Started off from a sunny Johnston on Sunday at about 11.25 am and arrived in Ljubljana early this morning at about 1 am. The trip took me all through Pembrokeshire and the south of Wales, crossing the second Severn bridge to England while on the M4, getting to London and then down to Folkestone in Kent to pick up the Channel tunnel train to Calais where I slept over. After that came a very rainy morning driving through the north part of France, then Belgium, where I got diverted by the SatNav due to heavy traffic, so I had to go through Antwerp. There was just a small bit of the Netherlands we had to drive through before entering the mighty Germany and before you get politically on me I meant the size of the country. It just never ended. By the time I left it it was dark. The second congestion was near Mainz which was avoided, again with the help of my friendly SatNav. The worst part came just before leaving Germany between Munich and Salzburg. There was a very, very long queue where approx. an hour was wasted and just because a lorry broke down on the part of the road that doesn't have a break down lane.
Austria was uneventful and, as usual, filled with many grotesque speed restrictions. I hoped I could make up the time in Slovenia but was met with quite thick fog which hampered any plans for a speedier trip to Ljubljana.

What the flood???

Martin McDowell — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 08:33:00 +0000

After spending a very wet summer in the UK where it was one of the wettest summers in recorded UK weather history and witnessing two bouts of flooding. I then return to Slovenia on early Tuesday morning for a two week break and what happened? Terrential rain that caused flooding and landslides. I swear, it wasn't me. Photo by Dnevnik.si

Return to skydiving

Martin McDowell — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 08:30:00 +0000

After a one year sebaticle I finally got the chance to do some skydiving again. The best thing about it, besides, of course, skydiving, was that I could do it at my old home drop zone Prečna in Novo mesto in the southern part of Slovenia. The other good part was that I could jump from the old Antonov 2 (the one we use bares the nickname "Fata" and here is a picture of it in action). I did my first student jumps from it two years ago. Over this weekend I did 8 jumps in all: one from 2,000 m, one from 3,000 m, one from 1,500 m and five from 1,200m. The extra stressing part about this was that I was using my new parachute and rig that I have not used before. I kindly asked my instructor Jaks to give it the first try and see how it performed. My first plan was to jump with a student rig but as Jaks gave my new rig the all clear I jumped it straight away. My mother recently got her new parachute PD Pilot and found it was quite unstable on opening and was also very difficult to land. That was also why I felt caution would be a great idea. Luckily my Atair Dragon 170 behaved much better. There is a photo album available on Picasa.

To have a face on Facebook

Martin McDowell — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 19:00:00 +0000

I have joined the hoard of internet users around the worls and started using Facebook. I haven't used it much but so far I am very impressed in the overall system. Really well thought out and programed. No wonder Google and Microsoft have appetites in the company. It is assumed to be worth around 10 billion USD. The company was founded by a student drop-off in 2004 and currently has 42 million active users and more than 14 million photos are uploaded daily to the site. So far I only found two friends: my former landlord from the houseshare in Hill mountain in Wales and Debbie, who is an experienced skydiver that used to work as a veterinary nurse at the Fenton Veterinary clinic - the clinic where I now work. You can try it out yourself. Visit www.facebook.com

My broadband is ready to go!

Martin McDowell — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 21:30:00 +0000

Well, this has happened much faster than the last time I tried this, of course, using another broadband provider certainly helps and the key is probably in the name as well: the company's name is Fast. They sent me a mail on Thursday tellimg me the connection is up and running since 8.09 AM. I received the Netgear router/modem and the ADSL filter while I was in Ljubljana and was able to set up the connection in just a few minutes without any problems. This is a much better experience than the one I had with Virgin. It does prove why they are marked as the best broadband service provider in the UK. By the way, my email address will remain the same:

What would the Kaiser say

Martin McDowell — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 20:30:00 +0000

My best friend, who is a great sports enthusiasts and a professional thrips stalker (joke ;-) might say much more knowledgeable things on the matter but I decided to have my dab in it myself. I have not been following the Slovene or any other hockey scene in recent years and I was surprised to find that two of Slovene's biggest hockey clubs play in the Austrian league EBEL. In fact, I see they even have a Hungarian team in this season's line-up. All they need is a Croatian team and they can have themselves a nice little Austruhungarian hockey empire ;-).

For those who don't know the Austrohungarian empire, it was a dual empire that included territories of many today countries like Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, Germany...

But just a few days ago I was even more surprised to learn that one of our teams Union Olimpija (called Union Laibach in German) has even managed to top the ranks in the EBEL league. Now I shouldn't spread this kind of info but I heard from many Slovenes that their first hand experience with Austrians was that they look down on Slovenes so I guess this new hockey development must be quite a bit upsetting to them to say the least. Mind you, the Austrians always seemd to be much better than our team when they played in the Alpine league so it undoubtedly surprised many of the Slovene fans

Plans for Tunnelcamp Florida February 2008

Martin McDowell — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 11:00:00 +0000

In Autumn 2005 my skydiving buddies started to organize a skydiving expedition to Florida that would take place in February and March of the next year. As I was a bit unexperienced and without my own equipment I could trust I had to say no. The next year the organized it again and I, again, had to say no as I was financially and timewisw preoccuppied with my move to Wales. Third time will be the charm! Well it will just have to be as I have made the reservation day before yesterday for the Tunnelcamp Florida February 2008 that is organized by the Slovene 4-way team SkyDragons. As far as I understand it is open to all: skydivers from Slovenia and from abroad. I am still not sure whether I will be able to go for two or for three weeks, depending on how much time off I will be able to take at work. The plan is to do a few days of tunnel training at SkyVenture Orlando and then over a week of skydiving at the regional DZs like Titusville, Tampa Bay, DeLand etc. Here is what SkyVenture looks like as seen on Google Maps Street View: Ling to Google Maps Street View I hope it all goes well, fingers crossed. The next step is to pay the deposit and then start to find a good (meaning not to expensive) airplane ticket. I was hoping for a direct flight so the only real alternatives to Orlando are from London, probably with Virgin Atlantic.

Skydive London for a day

Martin McDowell — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 20:00:00 +0000

Last weekend I did what I wanted to do for a long while - to actually skydive in the UK. I've been putting it off for a long time, lately mostly due to the weather we have been having. Last weekend the weather was OK, no flu lingering in the background and no lameness in any of the legs :-) The Skydive London dropzone is situated about 3 hours drive away from Haverfordwest, adjacent to the town of Swindon. Being used to relatively small dropzones in Slovenia I was surprised that the DZ which bares the name of the nation's capital is smaller than most of the DZs in Slovenia. But that is not relatively a bad thing. The environment is very friendly, everybody knows each other by their first name and there is no large scale manifests to have to battle with. The only real drawback for me, as a skydiver, is the focus on tandems which means you probably have to wait a while to get a seat on the next lift. I heard from some skydivers, that the DZ only has an Airvan and that it takes about 20 minutes to get to 12,000 feet - I must be pretty unspoilt as I though the flight was relatively fast and comfortable. My last high altitude jump was in the Antonov-2 which needs about 30 minutes to get to 3,000 metres and you usually have the opportunity to enjoy diesel fumes and turbulance (with all due respect to our lovely Fata). In fact the Airvan very much reminded me of the Canguro airplane although the two planes are quite different from each other. I made two jumps and unfortunately the second did not end with a very great landing. Just metres from starting the second stage flare I dropped what felt like about half a meter which resulted in me landing on my knees and not my feet. Ouch! I still have a lot to learn about landing in zero-wind conditions :-( It definitely is my fault as the parachute is quite stable and forgiving to my mistakes so you should deduct from this that it is NOT "idiot proof". The good thing I found about the parachute is that I am slowly getting the hang on the packing. Not long ago, in Prečna, the packing was a nightmare and the only respite came from the last pack of the day, when the increased evening humidity helped with wrangling with the still relatively new parachute material of my Atair Dragon 170.

FentonVets Children's Pet Show 2007

Martin McDowell — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 09:00:00 +0000

The Fenton Veterinary Practice, where I work, organized a childrens' pet show on November 10th 2007. In fact it was organized by the nurses at our clinic and it raised funds for Moggies in Need and the Pembrokeshire Hedgehog Hospital as well as raised awareness of National Veterinary Nurse Week. The competition was divided into three main groups: rabbits (judged by Emma Barton), cats (judged by Karen Grace Reynish) and other pets, except dogs (judged by Andrea Falberg). Each group was then also divided into two sub-groups for where the handler was either above or below 8 years of age. I had the honor of taking the photos of the event. Photos from the event and the winners can be seen here and here.

Slovenia, November 2007

Martin McDowell — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 10:58:00 +0000

Image via Wikipedia

Although this time I flew instead of drove to Lubljana it still seemed like it took ages, well in fact from the minute I set of from Johnston it was 8.45 AM and it was 8,45 PM hwn I arrived in Ljubljana, well Gradišče, to be more precise. So it took 12 hours to get here. There were quite a few traffic jams to deal with and the morning rush hour in Haverfordwest added at least half hour to my journey. The other big delay was on the M25 (duhh). Then the plane was delayed as there was something wrong with one of the fron wheels and it had to be replaced. The weather here is a bit colder than in Pembrokeshire and not snowy as it was predicted. Weather aside I realy look forward to meet some of my friends here, especially those I didn't get to see the last time I was here, in September.

Florida, here I (will) come

Martin McDowell — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 14:20:00 +0000

And finally I got around to actually purchasing the airline tickets for my first ever skydiving trip abroad as well as my first transoceanic trip as well as my first trip to the US. I will be going in mid-February and arriving at the beginning of March 2008. I will be flying with Virgin Atlantic from London. Hopefully the weather will be stable enough in Florida as it usually is that time of year. Compared to my fellow skydivers who will be traveling from Slovenia, I am quite lucky as I have a direct flight to Orlando and only have to bear the drive from Johnston to Gatwick. My Slovene friends will have to either go through Trieste (and then via Munich and North Carolina) or Munich (via Philadelphia) to Orlando. No all that is left to do is to specify exactly what to do after the tunnelcamp. This week I received news that I will be in the first group to go in the tunnel so I will do my skydiving and traveling round the southeast US later. Exactly what to do when and where is still up for discussion. One of the things I always wanted to do was to swim with wild dolphins in the ocean. And by that I do not mean some commercialized scheme where the dolphins are regularly fed at certain locations and we are then brought there to swim with them later. And if all is done "dolphin friendly" I really won't mind if they don't bother to show up. Its their lives :-) There is a program called Dolphin SMART that was put into place to do just that, protect the dolphins against harassment and disturbance. If it turns out that swimming with them is to disrupting, I wont do it. UPDATE! I have heard from the organizers of the Tunnelcamp that we have now made reservations for the hotel in Orlando. Its called Orlando Continental Plaza Hotel (formerly known as Riande Continental Plaza). It seems quite comfy. The problem we faced was that the Daytona bike week will be held in that general time period (29. Feb - 9. March 2008) - so hotels are booked up and prices much higher than usual. This is the venue where OCC has also been known to make an appearance. The other news is that we have finally agreed on the dropzone where we will do our skydiving jumps when we will not be in the tunnel. The DZ will be Deland, so come and see us if you are in the neighbourhood. I will use a separate post to tell you more about this DZ. Blue skies!

Izgubil se je črno-bel pes Roki

Martin McDowell — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 22:13:00 +0000

Zadnje dni oktobra 2007 je brez sledu izginil pes moje mame po imenu "Roki". V času, ko je izginil, je imel na sebi temno modro oprtnico z zvončkom. Plečna višina cca. 50 cm. V primeru, da opazite psa, ki ustreza njegovemu opisu, pokličite na mobilnik 040 211 214. Fotografija sicer ni ravno od nedavnega temveč je bila slikana malo po tem, ko ga je mama posvojila in je bil še čisto shiran. Posodobitev dne 08-Dec-2007 Ustvaril sem stran namenjeno Rokiju, da ne bo potrebno ljudem iskati po mojem blogu. Stran se nahaja na spletnem naslovu: roki.martinmcdowell.com

DZ Deland

Martin McDowell — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 21:03:00 +0000

As mentioned in a previous post, this is the DZ (dropzone) where we will do our skydiving in Florida in 2008. There are quite a few of us booked for the SkyDragons tunnelcamp and all will skydivers will also be doing jumps as well. Why on earth would you miss skydiving in Florida and the prices compared to the UK, where I live at the moment, are much lower. Here are the basic details of the Deland DZ:

airfield ID: Deland Municipal Airport (KDED)
website: skydivedeland.com
address: 1600 Flightline Blvd., DeLand, FL
aircrafts: twin otter, skyvan

The DZ is about an hours drive (50 miles / 80 km north) from Orlando, where we will be using the Skyventure wind tunnel.

Luxury awaits us in DeLand

Martin McDowell — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 10:00:00 +0000

After finally settling for DeLand being the DZ we will be jumping at we have now also have a definite place where we will be staying. Now you skydivers among you probably know what the usual level of accommodation comes during skydiving trips. This time we will live in near luxury. We will have a whole house to our self and we also received some pictures of the place.

I hope it all stays as planned and that this lucky bubble won't burst. I hope to get more pictures once we've stayed there.

Some new furniture in my flat

Martin McDowell — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 10:16:00 +0000

As Christmas is soon approaching and with it the Christmas dinner I realized I will have to add a table and chairs to my collection of few furniture items in my flat. As I have been quite disappointed with some stuff I got from Argos I decided to go for the more inconveniently far Ikea. The closest shop is in Cardiff, which is about an hour forty five minutes away from where I live. The sofa I bought in DFS ages ago, and I mean ages. It was still summer and it was way before I went on my first visit to Slovenia. Don't get me wrong. The quality, so far, looks very good, but their delivery times are pathetic. In the store they mentioned max 10 weeks, but it arrived 80 days later. As I say, quite bad so be wary if you do purchase anything from to calculate the time for their delivery as you might be pushing into your pension time by the time it arrives.

Fentonova novoletno-božična zabava 2007

Martin McDowell — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 11:15:00 +0000

Včeraj zvečer sem se imel imel prvič možnost udeležiti novoletno-božične zabave Fenton veterinarske klinike. V bistvu jo oni imenujejo le božična zabava, brez novoletnega dela. Kaj jaz vem zakaj. V Veliki Britaniji večino takih zabav organizirajo v hotelih, ker imajo oni ponavadi edini zadosti prostora in tudi hrana je na dovolj visokem nivoju. Sploh tu, v tem delu Wales-a, so restavracije precej majhne in bi težko spravili toliko ljudi noter. Pa da ne bo kdo mislil, da nas je toliko. Res da nas na kliniki dela okoli 30 ljudi (ne vsi naenkrat seveda) ampak so te zabave ponavadi skupaj še z drugimi podjetji. Mi smo zasedli 3 daljše mize, bile pa so še druge firme, med njimi tudi eno z osebjem neke lokalne restavracije. Hrana je bila res super, malo bolj pa sem bil razočaran nad glasbo. Takoj, je narod pojedel sladico se je začelo sicer zelo v redu. Na teh zabavah ponavadi ni žive glasbe in smo tudi mi imeli nekega DJ-a, ki je vrtel glasbo. OK, samo po prvih nekaj bolj modernih skladbah se je začelo obdobje glasbe iz šestdesetih let in to se ni nehalo skoraj do takrat, ko sem obupal in šel domov - to je bilo ob pol enih zjutraj. Je že boljša živa glasba, ki jo slišiš na takih zabavah v Sloveniji. Verjemte mi :-)

Lokacija je sicer odlična, hotel se nahaja v majhni vasici imenovani Wolf's Castle in hotel se imenuje Wolf's Castle Hotel. Ime me spominja na ime kake nemške postojanke med 2. svetovno vojno. Vasica se nahaja na glavni cesti A40 med Haverfordwestom in Fishguardom. Za informacijo naj povem, da je Fishguard odlična odskočna deska za potovanje na Irsko s trajektom. Vasica Wolf's castle naj bi bila baje neslavno znana po tem, da naj bi bila tam ubit zadnji volk na britanskem otočju. Žalostno, ne?

Moje prvo srečanje z lokalnim nesocialnim vedenjem

Martin McDowell — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 13:54:00 +0000

Sem upal, da se mi ne bo potrebno srečati s to precej pogosto obliko vedenja v tem delu Velike Britanije, zal pa se je izkazalo, da tudi ta samotni Johnston, v katerem živim, ni imun na tovrstno obliko izživljanja mladih.
Da najprej malo objasnim našo okolico. Živim v dvostanovanjski hiši, neposredno poleg mene se zgradba nadaljuje in v vsaki od teh vrstnih hiš sta dve stanovanji. Drugi sklop zgradb so enostanovanjske hiše, vendar približno enako velike, kot na naši strani. Med obema sklopoma zgradb je prehod, ki vodi na parkirišče, ki ga imamo na naši strani zgradb.
Že nekaj časa se dogaja, da nam, najverjetneje mularija iz popolnoma drugega konca ulice, v kateri živim, hodi na to parkirišče in razmetava pesek po asfaltu parkirišča in po poti. Sicer me to malo moti ampak če se ta mali igrajo in je to le neljuba posledica igranja, potem me ne jezi toliko. Včeraj pa sem okoli pol šeste zvečer (bila je že tema) zalotil dva mulca, ki se na vso silo znašata nas lučmi, ki jih imamo na parkirišču. Z nogami sta jih zelo močno brcala in vanje metala kamne, ki so leteli tudi v moj avto, ki je bil parkiran čisto poleg luči. Potem sta se spravila še nad kanalizacijo in odpirala jaške in notri metala nekaj, verjetno spet kamne. Kasneje sem izvedel, da so razsuli tudi odtočne cevi iz žlebov.
Milo rečeno, strgala se mi je zajla, in nisem mogel mirno gledati to početje. Spravil sem se dol in pamžema sploh ni bilo jasno najprej, kaj bi hotel z njima. Najprej sem ju vprašal, če sta sploh od tu, eden od njiju mi je rekel, da nista in z ne prav milimi besedami sem jima povedal, naj se takoj spravita stran. Takoj potem sem klical lastnika vseh zgoraj omenjenih hiš in parkirišča.

Izgledalo je, kot da bo pri tem ostalo, vendar sta se mulca vrnila in začela metati kamne v hišo in okna. Počilo je verjetno še komu drugemu kajti na koncu je prišla še policija, ki nam je dejansko svetovala da, ker ne morejo nič storiti, ker so storilci neznani, pokličemo neurgentno št. policije vsakič, ko se bodo mulci spet pojavljali okoli soseske. Tako se bo znalo zgoditi, da bodo naš konec vključili v program pogostejšega nadzora policistov.

Osnovna težava je v tem, ker mladina tu nima nobenega strahu pred starejšimi ali celo pred policijo. Niti slučajno se ne smeš mulca dotaknik, kaj šele da bi mu eno primazal, ker boš v kehi zagotovo končal ti in ne vandal. Zanimivo je, da se tega vsi zavedajo in kogarkoli vprašaš potrdi, da je fizična oblika represije občasno še vedno žal potrebna a v današnjih časih je to zelo politično nekorektno in se smatra kot nasilje nad otroci. Meni bi bilo to zelo težko razložit v torek zvečer, ko so mi ti "otroci" metali kamne v avto.

Danes, v soboto, 4 dni po incidentu, ni bilo drugih težav in mularije, ki je delala težave v torek ni bilo nazaj. Upam, da tako tudi ostane.

Has somebody switched off the heating?

Martin McDowell — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 10:04:00 +0000

Back in Slovenia for a few days and just to let you know about the temperature difference:

Haverfordwest yesterday: 10°C
Ljubljana this morning: -7°C

Enough said. I literally do Feel Slovenia. Mind you, it was also pretty cool to just drive over the Italian-Slovenian border without having to stop and show your passport/ID.

End of a very short visit

Martin McDowell — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 11:03:00 +0000

After being back in Slovenia for only three days I have to go back. Not that there is some urgent business I have to attend to but that is just all the time I had available during the Christmas/NewYear holidays. Tomorrow I have to be back at work where I already have appointments waiting. And not that I had a bad time. I had the pleasure of meeting somebody really nice for the first time and I also was able to speak to some of my friends although there wasn't really time to see them all. That will have to wait for my next visit, that will be hopefully be longer than this one. I don't know when that will be as my next travels will take me to Florida from mid February till the first week of March. This travel back home will be slightly different than the ones so far as I won't be going through London (Stansted) but through Bristol, which is just on the English side of the Welsh/English border near the river Severn. The drive from there takes only about two and a half hours instead of over 5 hours from Stansted. I will hopefully also sort out the problem of my dead PC as I will be bringing some of my equipment from Slovenia to Wales which should allow me to connect to the internet once again. See you on the other side and all the very best for the Year 2008. P.S.: I am making a point to try to inform most of the people in the UK that our country (Slovenia) will be presiding over the EU for the next 6 months. Here is the website all about it.

»Fata« and »Som« have left us

Martin McDowell — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 15:24:00 +0000

I must sadly inform you that the Antonov-2 airplane (we lovingly called "Fata") from which I learned how to skydive and did many jumps, the most recent ones in September 2007, crashed in the mountains near Trbovlje at about 1pm local time. Photo taken by Daniel Zavratnik in Bovec in August 2007. Viktor Bečan a.k.a. "Som" is the chap on the left in a green t-shirt. In the middle is one of our lovely fellow skydivers and on the right is the legend of Slovene skydiving who runs, in my opinion, the best skydiving school in Slovenia - Aleš Debeljak a.k.a. "Debeli". For more pictures click on the picture to take you to the Padalstvo.com forum. Even sader is the fact that at this very moment the pilot is feared dead, the co-pilot survived, but apparently with severe burns. There were no skydivers on board. I know Ales, who runs it, was planning on sending it to Hungary for servicing. He was also going to re-fit its outer skin.

She meant a lot for Slovene skydiving and will be very missed. I will try to find out what has happened to the pilots... ------------------------------------- UPDATE 1! The news channels have confirmed that the pilot Viktor Bečan (a.k.a "Som") lost his life in the crash. He will be missed and I would like to express condolances to his family and friends. I also am sorry for Aleš Debeljak who runs the Paranoia skydiving school and managed the "Fata" AN-2 airplane almost by himself. News articles:

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UPDATE 2!

I was angry, but not so surprised to hear some of the more moronic interviews on 24ur.com regarding the supposed unairworthiness of the AN-2. This airplane is definately one of the most safest civilian planes we have even though it looks like your Russian 3rd grade rubbish bin from the inside. It is extremely stable and can land on a penny. It is flight characteristics are great at low speed flights. In many respects it was the best plane to start my first skydiving jumps from and anyone who flew her knew that as a fact. I am proud to have made 35 out of my 91 jumps from this airplane. Fellow skydivers' websites reporting on the incident:

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UPDATE 3! on 7-May-2010

A final report from the Slovene Civil Aviation Authority has been issued. Read it here.

A great tragedy

Martin McDowell — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 13:07:00 +0000

As usual some of the media outlets are taking a completely wrong ignorant spin on this genuine and sad tragedy. Slovenia lost a great pilot Viktor Bečan (a.k.a. "Som"). My sincere condolences go to his family. My hopes for a quick recovery go to the surviving co-pilot Savo Medved Photo on left featuring the "Som" made by Lubi in Novo mesto (Prečna) in June 2007. Slovenia lost a legend among skydiving planes the "Fata" - Antonov 2 from the Paranoia Skydiving school (part of the ŠOLT organization) that fulfilled the dreams of many skydivers in becoming the vessel for them to do their first skydive jumps. It is also the plane even us experienced skydivers loved to use. Aleš Debeljak (a.k.a. "Debeli") and his friends were the sole machinery behind the Paranoia skydiving school and my heart goes to them. Aleš is a to good a chap for this to have happened to and everybody that knows him will agree with me 200%. His most important moto in skydiving was "Safety first" and he would never put anyone on a plane, let alone allowhim/her to jump out of it unless he wasn completely certain about their safety. I have been a skydiver since April 2005 and I am proud to be one, and I hope this accident won't become a stepping stone for an old fashioned witch hunt that some media companies, apparently, still like to have.

Blog overwhelmed

Martin McDowell — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 10:01:00 +0000

I unintentionally received a lot of hits due to the posting of the two articles regarding the plane accident on January 11 2008. The blog post was published in the Drugisvet.com blog website and subsequently got a lot of hits also from my fellow skydiver's website Black Betty.

Luckily the site did not get that many hits to crash it as it is hosted by Google on Blogspot.

Kompromitiran bančni račun

Martin McDowell — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 19:06:00 +0000

Ni se mi zdelo, da se mi bo to kdaj zgodilo, saj sem bil vedno precej pazljiv kje in kaj kupujem (sploh na medmrežju) a očitno se mi je zgodilo, da je nekdo kompromitiral moj bančni račun. Kot sem že omenil, sem do sedaj veliko kupoval v trgovini in na spletnih straneh a šele zdaj, ko imam račun pri HSBC banki v Veliki Britaniji, mi je očitno nekdo uspel skliznit podatke o računu. Že v zadnjih dnevih prejšnjega leta mi je nekdo "odstranil" okoli 5 funtov. Sicer majhen znesek, ampak je že dolgo znano, da so najbolj prebrisani spletni prevaranti ravno taki, ki ti vzamejo (ali jemljejo) v majhnem znesku, tako da ti a) tega niti ne opaziš in/ali b) se ti ne ljubi za tako majhen znesel zganjat hudiča in izgubljat živce z raznimi pritožbami na banki. No današnjem pogovoru z prijazno uslužbenko na banki, ki je sicer imela tako močan škotski naglas, da sem jo komaj kaj razumel, sem bil seveda bolj pozoren na to, kaj se dogaja na mojem računu in sem, žal, v mesecu januarju našel še en neznan odliv in sicer za nekoliko večji znesek - okoli 22 funtov. Na srečo je banka pri tem precej v pomoč in mi je že potrdila, da mi bo vrnila prvi znesek. Za drugi znesek pa še ne vem ker sem ga šele ravnokar uspel prijaviti. V obeh primerih je bil kot opomba pri odlivu naveden "Moira internet services". Na medmrežju nisem našel nič v zvezi s tem, tako da to verjetno samo še potrdi, da so bili odlivi milo rečeno sumljivi. Tako da, dragi moji, previdnost ni odveč :-)

P.S. Izkazalo se je, da so bili odtegljaji le upravičeni saj pripadajo ponudniku internetnih storitev, ki pa je pred kratkim zamenjal banko in se je zato zamenjal tudi napis v izpiskih v nekaj popolnoma brezveze. Seveda to niso nobenemu povedali in baje sem bil prvi, ki je to opazil!? Halo, koliko naročnikov pa sploh imajo in ali imajo sposobnost vida?

Qtrax: truth or dare?

Martin McDowell — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 19:01:00 +0000

Is this one of the same old P2P service that will be taken down or bought over by the ever desperate and notoriously backward sighted music industry. Well, maybe not, if it is true what their (Qtrax) website states. From midnight US EST or for us folks in Europe @ 6am on Tuesday, 28th of January 2008 their P2P client was supposed to be available for download. From this client you should be available to download "100% free" music downloads from a list of 25 million songs. For more information (well, not that more) you can visit their features page. As the download is not yet available we have to wait and see if it will all come true. There is a very good Wiki page available here.

Update 1 There has been a change on Qtrax's website and their client is now available for download here. Here is what it looks like...

There is a registration necessary and that seems to be the tricky part in the process as I am still waiting for the registration page to load after about 15 minutes!! Apparently all these server requests have slightly downed their server...

Song for our Antonov - Anova pesem (article on Playboy.si)

Martin McDowell — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:56:00 +0000

The Slovene edition of Playboy issued a great article in rememberence of our dear pilot Som and our Fata (to know more about this please read the following articles: article 1: »Fata« and »Som« have left us; article 2: A great tragedy). The Playboy article was written by Sabina Mali, Miss Hawaiian Tropic 2007 and is, unfortunately for you English speakers, only written in Slovene. Perhaps an English translation will be available in the future - at least the video is worth watching- see our late Som and Fata in action. Click here to see the Playboy article in full. There is also a video available that shows the good ol' days of the Fata boogies.

Po devetih letih povrnitev normalnega sluha

Martin McDowell — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 17:57:00 +0000

Za tole novico sem slišal na jutranjem programu BBC Radio 1, še posebej sem navil ušesa, ko so omenili, da je fant iz zgodbe doma iz "našega" konca, v mojem primeru je to Haverfordwest, v grofiji Pembrokeshire v Walesu. Članek sem opazil tudi na RTVSLO.SI in nekateri komentarji so govorilo teh Američanih oz. Angležih. Pa ni niti eden od teh - gre za Wales in me še celo skrbi, da imam istega zdravnika, če ne isto zdravstveno ordinacijo, kot fant Jerome, iz zgodbe. Gre za fanta, ki je imel že od svojega drugega leta okrnjen sluh v desnem ušesu. Potem pa je nedavno med igranjem iz ušesa padel kos vatirane palčke, ki ga je domnevno imel že devet let. Sedaj sliši spet dobro na obe ušesi. Tako zgodbo si kar težko izmisliš. Za izvorno zgodbo si preberite članek na BBC-jevi spletni strani.

Hudo resno opozorilo - sneg do nižin v Wales-u

Martin McDowell — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 18:24:00 +0000

Vremenarji so nam dali resno opozorilo, da je jutri kar 60% verjetnost da bo snežilo. Če bo promet ohromel, ne bom s svojo navajenostjo na slovenski sneg nič na boljšem, ker bom obtičal v zamašku z vsemi ostalimi, odvisno od »zimske službe« (dajem narekovaje, ker ne vem, če jo sploh majo) in da na govorimo o tem, da sploh nimajo zimske opreme.

01-Feb-2008 on 22:00 No, pa ni bilo nič od snega, vsaj ne na tem delu Velike Britanije. Smo padli v onih 40 odstotkov.

Odurno nedeljsko vreme

Martin McDowell — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 11:56:00 +0000

Pa se je izkazalo, da ne bo niti snega niti sonca temveč tisto tipično deževno vetrovno vreme, ki ima po mojem tu registriran patent.

Johnston, Haverfordwest, danes, ob 11.51 GMT

Less than a week left

Martin McDowell — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:01:00 +0000

... meaning less than a week left till my trip to Florida. Yupee!!! Have got most of my travel arrangements ready (or so I hope). As I will be there for three weeks I have arranged to get a SIM card from a SIM card re-seller in the UK. It seemed a better idea than getting a pay-as-you-go in the US for two reasons: apparently pre-paid mobile phones are much rarer in the US compared to Europe. The second reason is the price of international calls. It is much cheaper using this provider than a "standard" provider like T-Mobile. I found this company (or service) 0044 who sold me a SIM card for a mobile service called Jolt Global from the US Jolt Mobile operator. Well, that info is for anyone, who wants to know in case they will be travelling to the US and still want to be in touch with fiend and family in the UK. I will report after my return, if the service was any good or not :-)

Moje prve ure Valežanščine

Martin McDowell — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 10:07:00 +0000

Ker se uradno tečaji pričnejo šele jeseni in ker se mi do takrat ravno ne čaka, sem se odločil iti na krajši enodnevni tečaj Valežanščine v lokalnem družbenem učnem centru tu, v Haverfordwestu. Na začetku je bilo malo zmede, ko so nas začeli razporejati v skupine - v Valežanščini, kar pa je malce problem glede na to, da nimam pojma o tem jeziku. Čisto lahko, da so govorili v močnem valežanskem narečju angleščine, vendar po pravici povem, da, tudi drugi ne-valežani, niso zlahka opazili razliko. Začetek tečaja, je bil precej težak, sredina nekoliko manj, konec pa spet glavobolno zakompliciran. Jezik ni prav ničemur podoben in si trenutno sploh ne predstavljam, da bi ga kdaj tekoč govoril. Sem imel pa na tečaju vsaj enega sotrpina, ki je prav tako frišna angleško-govoreča oseba, in je prav tako debelo zijal ob poslušanju vseh teh čudovitih a popolnoma tujih besed. Priznam, da sem bil sicer verjetno v majceni prednosti in to samo zato, ker sem se že od kolegice v službi uspel naučiti izgovorjavo besed za "dobro jutro", "dober dan", "lahko noč" in "čas je za kosilo". Mnogim, ki jim povem za Wales in Valežanščino, so presenečeni, da imajo tu svoj jezik. Vsi več ali manj vedo za Škote in njihov keltski jezik, za valežane in valežanski jezik pa jih ve precej manj. Wales sicer nima enake stopnje avtonomije, kot Škotska, je pa še vedno strogo ločena od Anglije in ima svoj parlament imenovan National Assembly of Wales (uradna stran). Kar se tiče valežanskega jezika se govori, da je najstarejši še danes uporabljen jezik v Evropi. Več glede keltskih jezikov in od kod izvirajo si preberite na tej strani. Čeprav članek v Wikipediji deli proto Keltščino v 4 skupine, določene razlage govorijo o dejansko dveh večjih skupinah. V prvo spadajo jeziki, ki jih govorijo na Irskem in Škotskem, v drugo pa jeziki, kot so Valežanščina, Bretonščina (ki jo govorijo v področju Francije imenovana Brittanny), potem pa še Cornwallščina (ki jo uporabljajo v Cornwallu) in Cumbrijščina, jo uporabljajo na jugu Škotske in severu Anglije imenovanem Cumbria. Zazvonil je zvonec in naše učne ure je tako konec. Čiao.

First leg to Florida: Hickstead

Martin McDowell — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 20:28:00 +0000

Here I am, in lovely Hickstead, somewhere between Crawley (Gatwick airport) and Brighton in the local Travelodge. Took me about four and a half hours to get here from Haverfordwest and I can sincerely say, I am nackered. The drive was very smooth although I knew I was going to be hitting the London's circular road (the M25) at rush hour. My satnav took me from the M4 via a shortcut to the M3 and then on the M25. A bit weird but you get used to these sort of weird decisions from your friendly in-car route manager. Weather-wise it was a great day to travel, the skies were blue and there wasn't a cloud in sight the whole trip. Things just got a bit tricky in Hickstead as the daylight was gone and my satnav could not find the Travelodge hotel in the first go. It took me up some reasonably deserted road that actually ended up at a different hotel. After finding out the right way from the friendly reception staff, I turned back from the hotel onto this deserted road I came on. Despite looking both ways – complete darkness (absolutely no street lights), turned onto the road only to be met by some intense swearing from behind. I still don't know if this was a cyclist I surprised or made him angry because I was using my stronger headlights. In any case he was completely invisible to me and heavens knows what he was wearing. After looking back I still couldn't see him except a very faint cycle lamp that was extremely poorly visible at best. This reminds me of times when I used to cycle a lot to work – it is very important to be seen even if you think you are the shining light personified. Sorry, invisible cyclist :-( Tomorrow should see me on the long and arduous plane ride. The Virgin Atlantic e-ticket says you have have your check-in procedures completed 2.5 hours prior to departure. That means another early wake up and I am just very glad the flight is not earlier in the morning.

First day in Orlando

Martin McDowell — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 05:48:00 +0000

The wind tunnel training started a day before I expected so I had to get up at about 6am. I did 5x2 minutes in the morning, then another 5x2 minutes in the afternoon and I have just completed another 2x2 minutes session. I have now finished debriefing and it is ten minutes to one in the morning! By my home watch it is just before 6am!

Don't even think that flying in a wind tunnel is easy and not exhausting. My back is VERY sore. However I did manage to get some time and see a bit of Orlando from their buses. The one we used was very interesting and here is a photo to prove it. We passed a very funny building that looked like it was ripped out of the ground and landed on another one. It was probably also a bit of a joke on the hurricanes they tend to get here in Florida. As I was in the bus at the time I couldn't get a decent photo of it. I am otherwise surprised how much unusual and different everything is to me here. It is almost I still cannot believe I am in the U.S. It's so much different from any European country I have visited till now. In fact, till now I have not been outside the European continent, if we count out that trip to Istanbul where I took a touristy boat ride to the Asian side of the city. And it seems that the people who said, that Americans love their SUVs were absolutely correct. The the majority of the population, that don't have one at home, wished they could have one. And now to report on the weather: is makes a nice change from the relatively cold and damp Pembrokeshire weather, here is is quite hot during the day with just a bit to cold nights. Well shouldn't complain, it is mid February!

The first Saturday in Orlando

Martin McDowell — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 17:24:00 +0000

No real time to do anything else here as most of the time is spent either briefing for the tunnel, debriefing for the tunnel or actually IN the tunnel. I have hardly any time to eat - in fact I have only eaten once - yesterday's breakfast - and that is it.

Day 3 in Orlando

Martin McDowell — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 01:09:00 +0000

This is getting to be really tough. Last nights session started at midnight and I somewhat remember going to bed at 2am. This morning there are another three sessions, the first one on which starts at 9am. I am well and truly sore all over and hadn't had this much physical exercise in a good few years. Most of us, who are doing RW work in the tunnel don't have much time to do anything else. In fact we just discussing yesterday how we mostly just sleep, fly in the tunnel and eat a little. In any case, I hope my skydiving skills should improve immensely. I hope it was just down to tiredness but I found myself flipped on my back after trying to do an exercise my instructor Aljaž showed me. It could have been shock really but I couldn't get myself turned over. It took me a few seconds to make myself do the right manoeuvre I got back on my belly.

This part I write in the evening. Already completed 2 sessions today, only one left at midnight and another tomorrow. After doing so much exercise I feel really fit, the weather here is still holding and is sunny and quite hot, yes wet'ncold Pembrokeshire seems a universe away. Had a quite nice afternoon lunch at Sizzler, after only hearing about it I took the opportunity to try it out.

Day 4 in Orlando

Martin McDowell — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 12:52:00 +0000

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 as our group will be moving out of the hotel and heading up to Deland, FL.
Oh, a word of warning for anyone buying the 0044 sim card for the U.S. I still have not managed to make it work. I have now contacted 0044 instead of Jolt, who offers the service in the U.S., and I am awaiting if there can be anything done.

My first parachute reserve

Martin McDowell — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 04:31:00 +0000

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. 1.200 - 1.000 m. The parachute opened a bit slower than usual but I very quickly realized something was very wrong, the canopy was making me go in circles, but not spirals, I wasn't loosing height quickly but it all came down to my first cell from the left (the parachute is a 7-cell Atair Dragon 170). Nothing helped, including pumping risers or brakes or doing turns. I had no alternative than to revert to my basic training for emergency procedures: my parachute was unstable and not safe to land so I had to cut-away and deploy the reserve. The picture on the upper left is showing my instructor Aleš re-packing my reserve at the DZ. There was a bit of confusion as to where the reserve was but others managed to find the free-bag and the parachute, but not the red cut-away handle - a new one was installed by the makers of the rig itself as they have their factory only 100 m from the Deland DZ. I even got the grand tour of the place :-) Thanks Terry.

Day 2 at Deland

Martin McDowell — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 02:53:00 +0000

Now that I have got my reserve deployment out of the way I can get to some good and proper skydiving. Managed to get the record number of jumps for a day - 5 and I could have done at least one more but I had to arrange another rental car for our group. The picture on the left is showing our makeshift hangar - the flag has now been moved to a proper flag post close to the boarding zone - pics to follow :-) I have been having some problems with my landings and I was planning to do a canopy control course in Deland, but the instructors have not appeared to be very interested so I was lucky to have my old instructor from my home DZ in Prečna here - Aleš Debeljak. He gave me some simple live guidances during my landing and they went great. I was apparently flaring to late and that made my landing quite sore - especially on the knees. I would also recommend to have you rigged packed by one of the riggers here - it makes jumping much more enjoyable and you can get more jumps in than usual. It is also very good if you have a new parachute that does not like to be packed very much. The weather was not as nice as previous days so some of the lifts were at a lower altitude than 4.000 m. If this happens - tough, no money back at all. Tomorrow looks like a bad day for jumping, there is some chance of showers and it will probably be overcast if not completely cloudy.

Day 3 in Deland (really spent in Daytona Beach)

Martin McDowell — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 01:24:00 +0000

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 couple of three-way jump with Miha and Barbara and I think it went well considering our experience. After we saw that the jumps were definitely off we decided to do some sightseeing - our destination being Daytona Beach. We drove straight down route 92 right to the end - the sea, found a local parking house and strolled down the beach. I even made some few steps in the very cold Atlantic - it seems the temperature it the same as in the other end in Pembrokeshire. We went to have something to eat in what looked like an old fashioned americana diner called Johnny Rockets. They had the old fashioned furniture and juke boxes on every table and at some songs they would turn off all the lights, turn on the disco ball and then some of the waiters would dance and sing to the song. Great atmosphere. We then did a drive through the streets of Daytona Beach and tried very hard to see some big fat bikers with their naked (or at least topless) biker girls - no such luck. Of course a visit to Daytona Beach would not be complete if we did not have a look at the Daytona International speedway where the Nascar races are held.

Day 4 in Deland

Martin McDowell — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 02:36:00 +0000

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 later in the afternoon the clouds cleared and I managed to do 2 jumps, the winds were quite strong and sometimes unpredictable, but I was quite pleased with my landings.
The plane we used, both times, was the Twin Otter. I am still waiting to see when the skyvan will start to operate - I woiuld love to try out jumping off their ramp.

we all hope tomorrow will be better :-)
Finger crossed, as usual.

Mi smo DeLandovi, DeLand je naš!

Martin McDowell — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 13:03:00 +0000

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 pa ne kaže kaj dobrega. Imel sem končno čast krsta za rezervo, ki sem jo trofnil za svoj prvi skok v DeLandu, danes pa se mi obeta še en krst za 100. skok, ki sem ga opravil predvčerajšnjim. Še slikica Twin Otterja, ki ga najraje in najpogosteje uporabljamo. O Skyvan-u niti duha ne sluha.

Skydive Sebastian

Martin McDowell — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 04:16:00 +0000

As we woke this morning we could only take a depressing glance out of the window and despair over the rubbish weather we had. It was bucketing down. We had to decide either to stay in the house, go on a (inside) sightseeing tour, or drive to a DZ that does not have bad weather. We chose on the latter and decided to go to Skydive Sebastian - a DZ located in the Florida town called Sebastian (duh) just over 2 hours drive from Deland, passing Titusville and Cape Canaveral on the way. Click on the large picture above (or here) to see the photo album on Picasa. When we arrived there the weather was great but very hot and humid, this place would probably resemble the gates of hell during summer :-) The winds were picking up and we got a warning from the DZ staff that the landing might be a bit risky, above all we wanted to do an 8-way. Well we did try and we managed to get a 6-way in the end. The landing for me was actually quite good, it was just immediately after the landing I had problems with. After landing uncomfortably close to the airfield's barbed wire I apparently managed to do that on one of the rare mud patches. As I could not kill the chute straight away I got dragged through the above mentioned mud with a nice effect visible on my jump suit. Most of us did not land where we should have and some of the 6-way members even landed on the neighbouring golf course. The DZ staff came to pick us all up :-) Needless to say that was the last jump of the day as there was a weather hold for the rest of the day. There was an approaching storm coming from the north - most probably the same one we wanted to avoid in Deland. After the jump we made a quick visit to Wal-Mart and then to the local sandy beach in the town of Orchid. Here is a snapshot from there...

Day 5 in Deland - back in the air again

Martin McDowell — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 01:30:00 +0000

The morning had low clouds but we hoped that they would soon lift and that we would see blue skies again - unfortunately this took much longer than first predicted as we started jumping at about 1PM. As it was a Sunday most of the skydivers wanted to make the most of the day and the DZ became very busy as there were 3 planes flying at any given time (Twin Otter, PAC 820, Skyvan or Porter), today we saw the first appearance of the Skyvan. The problem was that the pilot for the Skyvan was the same as for the Porter so the jumpers who wanted to use the Skyvan were without their favourite plane for a few times during the day. The photo on the top was made on the last jump where Barbara (white helmet, pink grips), Babi (white helmet, blue/white suit), Gvido (red helmet) and myself (blue/silver suit) made a 4-way formation. I managed to make 4 jumps and they all went quite well, the last one was even from the Skyvan which turned out to be quite a terrifying experience. We were the first group to leave the airplane but none of us had any idea how to open the door. The team behind us were some Swedes and they did know how to do it either. We found a Slovene freeflyer Igor who saved the day (or the load in this case) and showed us how to do it. Jumping out of the Skyvan's ramp was a exhilarating experience and very frightening. I will probably stick to the Otter and PAC from now on. I am still quite comfortable leaving the plane by its side door.

Photo of Skyvan by Tony Danbury

Day 6 in Deland - a great day for jumping

Martin McDowell — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 02:06:00 +0000

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. Usually they are at a higher altitude but this one was the same as the others, nevertheless it was completely full.

I am completely nackered and will probably go to bed even earlier as before. We have already booked ourselves on the first morning load.

Tornado warning in Florida

Martin McDowell — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 22:05:00 +0000

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 I had a few problems as my left bootie came off. Both formations were actually completed but the 9-way was dropped quite away from the DZ and I had to do an emergency landing in a field littered with cow excrements - I did manage to aviod them and land on my feet. Two other skydivers also landed on the same field after me. And now something about the photo. It was taken by Zoran Bistrički and the formation comprises of 2 circles, the first one being in the centre. 1. circle: Nataša Hacin (my mum), Sašo Tepina, Miha Plesnik, Gregor Butala 2. circle: Kristina Keržan, Jure Cotič, Miha Miklavčič, Martin McDowell (me, in the upper left corner in the silver and blue jump suit and harness), Aleš Debeljak. At the moment we have a tornado watch in the Volusia county, where we are at the moment. This means there is a chance of a tornado formating. We wanted to take a nice boat trip down DeLeon Springs State Park, but all the boats were "grounded" due to the same tornado warning. We then enjoyed a meal at the Old Spanish Sugar Mill restaurant where we made our own pancakes (all-you-can-eat, of course). At the moment we are stuck in the house as it is pouring down with rain :-( I almost forgot to mention the little incident with the airport security. I wanted to have a look if I could find my glove which I suspect I lost after landing two days ago. As there was a weather hold after today's first jump, I decided to have a look. I went to the DZ's manifest and asked if it is OK, they said yes, as long as I don't walk on the runway. I didn't even walk 200m when I got stopped by the airport security officer and was told I wasn't supposed to walk there at all, even as a skydiver. The manifest was not authorized to allow me to do that - by this time I was pretty ticked off - surely they would give me consistent instructions, the DZ has been operating for a long time. The security chap even told me that his colleague would not even warn me but just take me away in his car - probably a pick-up truck. Some swear words come to minrd flattering towards security guards or Americans in general. If I get the chance I will deliberately land off the landing area and then have a look so yuhuuu to you DeLand airport security. Here is a pic from the trip to the DeLeon Springs park.

Rojstvo Palomina

Martin McDowell — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 14:26:00 +0000

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 imajo, po mojem mnenju, kar visoko ceno. Fotografije žrebička in mame nimam, ker s seboj nisem imel fotoaparata :-( Posebnost tega poroda je bila še v tem, da žrebička genetsko ni od te matere ampak je bil opravljen t.i. embriotransfer oz. prenos ploda pri 7. dnevu starosti.

Spletna stran vzreditelja: www.palominowarmbloods.com

Fotografija na vrhu prenešena z Wikipedije in je last Kvetine-Marie

Speed star in cold DeLand

Martin McDowell — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 01:03:00 +0000

We woke up this morning into a very cold day. After witnessing the birth of the foal we decided to have a look at the DZ in case there was spomething going on. There was, despite the low temps, clouds and high winds. The clouds were very high, above 4.000 metres. Some of the groups did some some shopping in Daytone Beach while the rest of us stayed at the DZ. After seing Gregor do a jump - he reported that the temperatures were not that low I decided to have a go. It actually wasn't that bad, but I had to wear a lot of clothes. It was about 10C. In the end I managed to do 6 jumps and the last one was a sunset jump in which we did a speed-star. This is when we exit the plane one by one, very quickly, and then try to join up. It went very well. An awesome way to finish the day! We finished the day by visiting the DZ bar called The Perfect Spot where we had a nice beer and some free chicked wings - hey, an even better way to end a perfect day for skydiving. I was starting to think about work last night but today I wish I could stay here a bit longer.

Last day of skydiving as a group

Martin McDowell — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 13:41:00 +0000

The day was very very cold, but with blue skies all day. I did 5 jumps, but was hoping to do 6, unfortunately the sunset load was cancelled - we wanted to do a big way :-( At the moment the first group has already departed for Orlando airport with the second group waiting to go a liitle later. My group will sty on a little further, till the 4th of March.

Back home again

Martin McDowell — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 19:09:00 +0000

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 of returning from the States subsided and the monotony of driving on the M4 kicked in I realised how tired I was. The plane touched down at 7.20am which was 2.20am U.S. time, which, unfortunately my body was still on. I tried taking a nap at Reading services but didn't help. I had to take another just across the bridge at Newport services which finally did the trick.
I would suggest this to anyone driving tired and sleepy, just a 15 min doze will help a lot, it really does not have to be a full sleep. It makes you much more aware of the traffic and prevents possible accidents.

As I still haven't had the chance of uploading the photos onto Picasa there are none for you to see at the moment. I will try to rectify this tonight.

Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Refuge

Martin McDowell — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 23:25:00 +0000

We wanted to use the good weather to see some local natural history and even though it pained us that we didn't skydive on such a beautiful day we were all not sorry at all we took the trip. Our guide and boat operator was Denis, the owner of the house we were staying at in DeLeon Springs. He knew everything about the area and the local wildlife. Click on the large picture above (or here) to see the photo album on Picasa. The trip started off at the Highland Park Fish Camp, where the boat we were going to use was literaly put in the water for us by a forklift. All we had to do is board it and be on our way. We so a lot of local wildlife and we finally got to see alligators, some of them really up close. It was like driving inside a zoo but with the animals all free and most of them looked like they were posing just for us to have a look at them. Certain areas in the river and lake system were advised to be off limits by the Highland park staff as there is a a drought in Florida and the water levels everywhere were low and that could make us run aground. We did have a little problem with the engine as it kept on overheating as the cooling inlet kept blocking by all the muck in the water, we even had to help a group out that got stranded on the south part of Woodruff lake. The best thing was left for last. Just as we were returning to the Highland fishing park were just drove up the St. John's river and saw a group of manatee swimming down the river toward Woodruff. They didn't seem bothered by us as we escorted them part of the way. It was a great experience and I am glad I didn't miss it. My greatest thanks go to Dennis for giving us the opportunity to see all we did.

Hillsborough River State Park

Martin McDowell — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 17:17:00 +0000

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 the pool... The park is located on the road from Zephyrhills to Tampa and is a popular destination for the Tampa locals. We were there on a Sunday and the place was very full, we had to wait a few hours to get a canoe and it was not possible to reserve one as only a first-come first-serve policy was used. Click on the large picture above (or here) to see the photo album on Picasa. I would suggest this or this kind of activity as a must, as you can see so much and it's really something else when you can quietly row down the river and duck trees (or sometimes not duck them successfully and then getting pretty well stuck in them), look at alligators up-close and learn how to canoe. In any case it is great fun. Just hope you don't have some noisy locals shouting on the river and making you sorry you haven't put a hole in their canoes ;-)

SkydiveCity DZ (Z-Hills) in Florida

Martin McDowell — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 11:10:00 +0000

I visited this very good DZ after the main group returned back to Ljubljana. It turned out to be a great idea, especially as the alternative was to go up north into Georgia, but that plan had to be scrapped due to severe weather warnings and big snowfalls in Georgia. The photo on top showing Padalček and myself. The Z-Hills dropzone, called SkydiveCity, is located on the outskirts of Zephyrhills, a small town on the west side of Florida, 30 miles out of Tampa, FL. At the DZ we met the other group based in Maribor, Slovenia. Some of the instructors from the SkyVenture tunnelcamp were also there a day earlier. Actually, there were only a few Maribor skydivers there as many more were yet to come during March. As I write these lines they are probably still there - hope you having a great time guys!!! :-) I managed to do just one jump, but that was fine. I found out what the DZ looks and feels like, it seemed very friendly and it is a very good candidate for next year's skydiving pilgrimage to Florida. The only thing I thought was very inappropriate was the demand for spectators to pay a fee for watching the skydivers. I have not seen this anywhere else and I think it is wrong. The DZ should encourage visitors and they could get the revenue from selling food or at least refreshments of some kind. As accommodation is concerned it felt a lot like a summer seaside camp. It has a camping area and its own mobile homes that skydivers can rent out. One small tip at this point: beware of the payphones on the DZ. They seem to not be to keen on returning change to you. In that respect DeLand was better as it had two phones you could use for free for local and toll free calls. The visit to the Z-Hills DZ was also an opportunity to finally meet our colleague Peter Hernavs a.k.a. »Padalček« who is a regular on our local Slovene skydiving forum Padalstvo.com and as a pass time likes to »re-shape« local DZ vehicles :-)

Easter 2008 back in Slovenia

Martin McDowell — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 07:43:00 +0000

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 as it was snowing nearly every day of my visit, and by that I don't mean some nancy little snowflakes falling on the ground and melting the next second, but proper snowstorms. Here are some photos. More photos available on Picasa.

Končno dočakali sneg

Martin McDowell — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 12:42:00 +0000

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 prekriti s snegom. Moral sem se peljati še kakih deset minut in sem ga le doživel. Malo me je vsaj spomnilo na Slovenijo, čeprav se niti slučajno ne more kosati s sneženjem, ki sem ga doživel za Veliko noč. Na poti nazaj sem se peljal skozi druge kraje, kot so Fishguard in Letterston in snežilo je čisto povsod. Še celo v Haverfordwestu. Mega, sicer je zelo toplo in trenutno že sije sonce, tako da snega, medtem, ko to pišem, ni več niti za vzorec. Vidim tudi, da imajo s snegom težave tudi drugod po državi.

Pokličite zdaj, vaš klic je brezplačen

Martin McDowell — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:10:00 +0000

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 nisem lastnik stanovanja ali nezaposlen. Brez težav dobim od 50 do 500 funtov (okoli 60 do 600 evrov). Na listu ti celo dajo primer koliko plačaš, če 56 tednov odplačuješ posojilo v višini 300 funtov. Pa se mi je zdel končni znesek precej visok in me je zanimala obrestna mera, ki jo ponujajo za te kredite - in sem jo tudi našel. Bila je 183,2% !!!!! Halo, sem morda slabo pogledal, morda pregloboko pogledal v kozarec cedevite? Pa da ne bo kdo mislil, da si izmišljujem, njihova spletna stran potrjuje to zelo »ugodno« ponudbo. Aja, pa skoraj bi pozabil, vaš klic na podjetje je brezplačen.

Tudi v Veliki Britaniji leti AN-2

Martin McDowell — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 18:43:00 +0000

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 slovenski) upravi (zdaj direktoratu) še vedno tako alergični na to vrsto letala.

PST od Johnstona do Neylanda

Martin McDowell — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 12:33:00 +0000

Prejšnji torek sem delal samo pol dneva in sem izkoristil to priložnost da sem končno opravil pešpot od Johnstona, kraja kjer živim, do Neylanda. Oba kraja sta namreč povezana s precej lepo kolesarsko stezo, ki pa je odprta tudi za pešce. Pot je približno dolga 6,5 km in se vije po prelepi valežanski pokrajini. Sicer valežanska pot ne bi bila prava, če ne bi bila levo in desno obdana s kako ograjo ali nasipom in tudi ta ni izjema, amapk pustmo to - dan je bil lep in dejmo pot pot noge. Treba je namreč priti tja in potem tudi nazaj - po isti poti. Povrh vsega se bliža čas pohoda okoli okupiranje Ljubljane oz. po starem Pohod po poti spomina in tovarištva (PST). Ker sem sicer iz Ljubljane si ne morem kaj, da si ne bi sam pripravil svoj pohod okoli okupiranega Pembrokeshire-ja, pa prosim, ne dlakocepti, da Pembrokeshire ni bil okupiran in bla, bla, bla. Vzdušje je pomembno ;-) Pot sem hotel dokončati že decembra, pa je bilo vreme precej bolj zanič in sem prišel do neke točke po dobri uri hoje, ko sem si rekel, da je verjetno še precej daleč do konca in sem se raje obrnil in šel nazaj. Izkazalo se je, da sem bil od Neylanda oddaljen samo kakih 15 minut hoje - bebec. Sicer je bilo vreme lepo, ko sem šel ampak, ker se tu vreme spreminja vsako minuto je bilo seveda že prec oblačno, ko sem prišel v Neyland. Sicer nič kaj zanimivo mesto, je pa bilo včasih precej pomembno pristanišče, do katerega je vodila železnica. Železnico je leta 1850 zgradil slavni britanski inženir Isambard Kingdom Brunel, ampak ne čisto sam, baje je imel kar nekaj pomočnikov s seboj, ki so mu pomagali nositi kamne ;-) Več o železniških povezavah, ki jih je gradil, si lahko preberete na tej strani. Ko so v 60 letih na veliko zapirali linije je nastradala tudi povezava med Johnstonom in Neylandom, ki so jo kasneje preuredili v kolesarsko pot - ravno to pot, ki sem jo uporabil za pohod. Prva stvar, ki jo zagledaš v Neylandu, če prideš po tej kolesarski poti je velik most, ki se razteza čez dolino in povezuje Cleddau most do Pembroke in Pembroke Dock z ostalimi mesti na severu Pembrokeshire-ja. Druga stvar, ki jo vidiš pa je marina na levi strani in ravno tu sem si dal duška, se vsedel na klopco in malo opazoval dogajanje v marini. Potem pa se je nenapovedana predstava začela... Pride nek dedek (tako je samo izgledal samo ne dam roke v ogenj, da je imel dejansko že vnuke ;-) in tako graciozno je zavil iz glave poti v marini v svoj kot ali nekakšno parkirišče. Mislil sem si, da imam pred sabo nekega izkušenega pomorščaka in bom videl kako se tem stvarem streže. Se je izkazalo precej drugače saj se je zelo negraciozno zabil z jadrnico v pomol, kar malo je zaškrtalo in še meni so šle kocine pokonci, pa čeprav ni bila moja jadrnica. Ko je udaril ob pomol in ker je rob pomola nižji od premca se je jadrnica malo dvignila in s tem malo ublažila trk. Ko je potem jadrnica zdrsnila nazaj in je premec drgnil po robu pomola je cel jadrnico porinilo nazaj. OK, nekaj časa je nekaj motovilil in jadrnica je bila skoraj na drugi strani parkirišča, ko je zopet vklopil motor a ga je, očitno v svji trmi, dal v popolen gas in je tako še z večjo hitrostjo, kot prej, pot kotom zaril v pomol in ob tem še treščil v velik jeklen drog, ki drži pomol na mestu. Na tej fotografiji se vidi, kaj mislim. Ko gresta plima in oseka gor in dol (tu je razlika v gladini vode velika, zato so drogovi tako visoki, vendar je na fotki plima že kar visoka in se velikosti droga ne da dobro ocenit). No skratka, ata z vso sili trešči v ta drog in jadrnica še bolj zahrusta in kar skremžilo se mi je ob misli, kakšna škoda se dela. Drog se je namreč od vse te sila kar malo nagnil, kaj šele, se je dogajalo z jadrnico. To je bil končno konec parkiranja, saj je ata potem stopil na pomol in z rokami povlekel jadrnico na svoje mesto, jo privezal in zadevo končno pripeljal do konca, na žalost s kar hudimi praskami (po trupu jarnice in po egu, seveda). No, šova je bilo tako konec in malo me je že začelo zebsti in pred mano je bilo še kako uro in pol hoje. Sicer bi bilo precej bolj prijetno, a je na poti večinoma asfalt, ki naredi hojo za noge precej bolj utrujajoče. Ko sem prišel nazaj v Johnston, se je že spet kazalo sonce, na poti pa sem imel, povrh vsega, še bližnje srečanje z labodom in potem malo kasneje še z lisico. Kaj takega se mi v Sloveniji še ni zgodilo, tu so namreč lisice precej bolj razširjene, ker nimajo pravega naravnega sovražnika.

Lokalne volitve v Walesu

Martin McDowell — Thu, 01 May 2008 20:05:00 +0000

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 nimajo volitve ob nedeljah ali celo ob sobotah, temveč ob četrtkih. Kako so našli ta četrtek ne vem, samo verjetno izvira iz istega koša britanskih posebnosti, kot njihovo poslovno leto, ki traja od 6. aprila dalje in se konča 5. aprila v naslednjem letu - mislim, haloooooo!!! Zanimivo je, ko ti banka pošlje izpisek prometa za marec in potem še nega za 5 dni v aprilu. Ko bi seveda koga vprašal, kaj jim je in zakaj ne poenostavijo, kot normalni ljudje na koledarsko leto, bi ti zagotovo odgovorili s stavkom v katerem bi bila beseda "tradicija". Pa še ena prednost volitev ob četrtkih. Ker je to delovi dan je velika verjetnost, da boš takrat v službi oz. nekje blizu doma in boš šel lahko volit. V nedeljah gredo ljudje pogosto kam na izlet ali počitnice. Prednost je tudi ta, da so volišča odprta do desete ure zvečer. Tko, zdej grem pa gledat film Alien vs. Predator :-)

Cooler turned off

Martin McDowell — Thu, 08 May 2008 06:06:00 +0000

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 thinking of getting myself a bicycle to get around, especially if we intend to have an actual summer here :-) -last year, as many of you know, was not something to write home about. However I don't think I wold be able to fit the bike in the hallway of my flat. Would be great if I could get someone to share his or her shed or garage so I could put it somewhere more appropriate. In other news it has been announced today that the Bank of England and the The Royal Mail will have to start using Welsh as well as English in Wales. This is all part of the Welsh language act and some other public companies will soon have to abide by it as well. Apparently some supermarkets are not using Welsh, however I can confirm that our local Tesco store and Boots do have all their signs in the store in Welsh and English.

Kaj pa morem, ko je avto tako žejen

Martin McDowell — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:24:00 +0000

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 dobro da imam avto na dizel in malo žre, pa čeprav je v Veliki Britaniji diesel dražji od navadnega bencina.

Zmaga modro-belih

Martin McDowell — Sat, 17 May 2008 16:02:00 +0000

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 :-)

Improved satellite view of Pembrokeshire

Martin McDowell — Sun, 25 May 2008 12:24:00 +0000

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 - Google Maps.

The image detail is very good and you should have no problem seeing cars and their colour as well as people. Here is a close-up of Little Haven in Pembrokeshire:

I have already tried to establish when the photos were taken but I have only been in Wales for just over a year and they were definitely taken before that. At the moment I have information that they are about 2 years old. If anyone has more precise information please contact me or drop a comment on this article. There are some interesting mistakes that can be seen, this particular one on the second Severn bridge. The cars seem to be driving on the shade of the bridge itself. I presume an image server at Google misinterpreted the grainy image with lower resolution (seen here on the left) and then mistakenly connected wrong parts of the bridge confusing the bridge itself with its shadow. I presume the two photos were taken at different parts of the year (the better resolution taken probably during winter, note the longer shadow.

Comment given on Michele Neubert's blog: Ljubljana - on its way to primetime

Martin McDowell — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 16:15:00 +0000

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 moment and miss my home time immensely. It is a nice article and we have to take it from the point of view of the reader and her expectations. Slovenia is not the Balkans, only a part of the south comes under it geographically. It was "annexed" to it historically under Yugoslavia. I used to live in one of those blocks of flats on the edge of the city and they are not as bad as you think. The views of the mountains was sensational and it took me a lot of self control to keep my head in my books while studying to be a vet in the local university. These buildings is where we live and we are not Switzerland or Austria. Even better, we are Slovenia and these buildings are just one part of our history and architecture and shouldn't be removed just because they are not picture perfect. They are a part of the history and it would be realy stupid to move everybody out and build them new sightlier accomodation just because the block of flats is to pig ugly. I may be a bit silly but close to Christmas the evening view of the Bratovseva ploscad, where I lived looked a bit like a giant Christmas tree :-) Ljubljana - on its way to primetime? Bollocks. If you ask me, it's already there.

Firefox 3 is finally here!!

Martin McDowell — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 19:10:00 +0000

After a long wait and an apparent server crash (link 2)we finally have the much anticipated new browser from Mozilla. You can get a detailed how-to on the product here. Martin McDowell Firefox 3 download certificate The "big download" should have commenced at 10 am PDT but was delayed at least an hour an a half. I managed to get it at 19.30 GMT (20.30 CET). I encourage you to get you own here: http://www.mozilla.com/ Update: as mentioned earlier there have been so many requests for download that the Mozilla servers just crashed under the pressure. At one time there were like 14.000 downloads per minute! With a 7 MB download that is 13 GB/s. If you want to see the progress fo the download you can se a live counter here: http://downloadcounter.sj.mozilla.com/

The Queen to visit Slovenia

Martin McDowell — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 18:56:00 +0000

I was very surprised to hear that the British Queen Elisabeth II. is to visit Slovenia soon. The official press release can be seen HERE.

The original press release on 26-Jun-2008 read:

Buckingham Palace press releases
ANNOUNCEMENT OF STATE VISITS TO SLOVENIA AND SLOVAKIA 26 June 2008 THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT IS ISSUED BY THE PRESS SECRETARY TO THE QUEEN The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh will pay State Visits to: Slovenia, at the invitation of President Dr Danilo Tuerk; and Slovakia, at the invitation of President Ivan Gasparovic, during this Autumn. Background This will be the first visit by The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh to both Slovenia and Slovakia.

The links in the press release were added by myself and are not part of the original press release.

Update on 05-Sep-2008 According to a press release on the Slovenian President's website the visit will take place from 21st to the 23rd of October 2008.

About

Martin McDowell — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:37:58 +0000

I am a English born Slovene veterinary surgeon working in Wales. If you you want to know anything more you can drop me a line or you might get a chance to see me in person if you bring you pet in for an examination at the Fenton Veterinary Practice in Haverfordwest, Wales. On rare occasions I might even be seen in Ljubljana, Slovenia or at a local skydiving dropzone.

Occupation: veterinary surgeon @ The Fenton Veterinary Practice
Location: Haverfordwest : Wales : United Kingdom
Currently not on Facebook anymore due to privacy issues, but I do have Twitter account :-)
Other activities I am involved in:
- amateur photography (yes, very amateur, but that won't stop me from charging for photos. Live with it!)
- Wikipedia contributor
- Open-source IT, debugging, localisation and translation of software like ClamTK (GUI front-end for ClamAV using gtk2-perl for GNU/Linux)

martin_z-hills_2

Martin McDowell — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:33:40 +0000

Taken after a jump at Z-Hills, Florida

My Favourite Stuff

Martin McDowell — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:43:33 +0000

Favourite internet music

Spotify. No runners-up. You can listen to my Spotify playlist by clicking here or here.

Favourite Films

Just some of the few, in reverse chronological order

Harry Brown (2009; by Daniel Barber)
This is England (2006; by Shane Meadows)
The Village (2004; by M. Night Shyamalan)
Donnie Darko (2001; by Richard Kelly)
The others (2001; by Alejandro Amenábar)
Snatch (2000; by Guy Ritchie)
Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998; by Guy Ritchie)
Noises off (1992; by Peter Bogdanovich)

Favourite Music

metal: Rapture, Boy Sets Fire, Cave in, My Dying Bride, Cancer Bats;
rock: Prime STH

Favourite Radio

ChroniX Aggression (www.chronixradio.com)
BBC Radio 1
977 Alternative Rock

Favourite books

Jonathan Livingston Seagull: A Story (by Richard Bach)

martin_z-hills_21

Martin McDowell — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 21:32:18 +0000

Skydiving in Z-Hills

200px-shakespeare

Martin McDowell — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 19:33:36 +0000

Bone-fixing course in Studley (part 1)

Martin McDowell — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 19:34:54 +0000

Well, its more of an orthopedic course but this makes a better title :-) Thi splace should be about 3 hours from Haverfordwest but ended up over 4 as there was a car accident in somewelshnamedplacewithlotsoflettersandhardlyanyvowels. This was on the A40 ut before and after the accident this was one of the most enjoyable roads to drive on for speeds about 60-70 mph. Tomorrow I start the two-day course which will hopefully tell a lot about the principles and tecniques of ortopedic surgery. The hotel I'am staying in is quite nice, and looks clean. My window is on the ground floor and is overlooking the lawn with lots of wild rabbits running around it. Cute. O, I nearly forgot, for those who don't know, this is Warwickshire - or Shakespeareland. Stratford-upon-Avon is just down the road. Oh, yes, and this is my first post written exclusevly for this new blog website.

Ruptured cranial cruciate ligament

Martin McDowell — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 21:50:00 +0000

Bone-fixing course in Studley (part 2)

Martin McDowell — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 22:06:23 +0000

Now I have to say this was one of the more interesting and very hands-on course that I have ever been on in my life. The course was theoretical mixed-in with lots of practical (wetlab) sessions. It was organised by CPD Solutions and the cost covered by my employer, The Fenton Veterinary Practice. The lecturer was Toby Gemmill from the Willows Referral Centre in Solihull. We did practical work on cerclage wire fixation, tension band wires, tibial intramedullar pinning, femoral external fixator combined with an intramedullar pin, femoral head and neck excision, cranial cruciate ligament operation (lateral patellar arthrotomy, meniscal examination and fabellotibial suture) and finally a V-recession sulcoplasty with tibial tuberosity transposition. Sounds alien, I presume. These are just some of the most common orthopaedic operations performed on cats and dogs so, if, for example, you cat is involved in a RTA or your dog develops cruciate ligament tears these just a few of the procedures that are possible.

This website

Martin McDowell — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 10:26:10 +0000

The previous edition of this site was hosted on Google's Blogger from the start on 21-Nov-2006. On 01-Jul-2008 I moved the whole thing to Bluehost. An American hosting company with servers all round the world: US (Orlando, Oklahoma City, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Chicago), China (Shanghai, Hong Kong), Australia (Sydney), Germany (Frankfurt). The application software used for the blog is from Wordpress using various widgets and plugins to enhance its functionality. As far as design is concerned I started off with Cutline 3-Column Split by Chris Pearson.

Bluehost

Martin McDowell — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 11:33:41 +0000

Bluehost

Martin McDowell — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 11:38:22 +0000

wp-20-button-small

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p7190010

Martin McDowell — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 19:01:09 +0000

p7190007

Martin McDowell — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 19:02:12 +0000

Curdridge Country Show

Martin McDowell — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 19:03:28 +0000

To soboto sem imel priložnost ogledati si nadvse angleški sejem z mnogimi angleškimi tradicijami vključenimi v program. Šlo je za nek lokalni sejem v majhnem mestecu Curdridge v grofiji Hampshire. Sejem je trajal en dan in na njem je bilo najti od lokalnih avtomobilskih prodajalskih podjetij do malih prodajalcev z nakitom. Imeli so tudi hortikulturni šotor, kjer so imeli tudi nagradno žrebanje ter osrednji prireditveni prostor, kjer so med drugim imeli britansko različico pihalnega orkestra - v tem primeru so bili to igralci dud v tradicionalnih škotskih oblačilih. Precej me je pritegnila tudi razstava starih (vintage) avtomobilov. Temu so zgovorne fotke v Picasi.

A Message from John Cleese to the Citizens of the US

Martin McDowell — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 08:00:00 +0000

I saw this somewhere on the internet and found it hilarious. I apologise to any US citizen if he/she is offended but this is really good!

To The citizens of the United States of America: In light of your failure to nominate competent candidates for President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately. Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except Kansas , which she does not fancy). Your new prime minister, Gordon Brown, will appoint a governor for America without the need for further elections. Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire may be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed. To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect: You should look up "revocation" in the Oxford English Dictionary.

Then look up aluminium, and check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it.
The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'favour' and 'neighbour.' Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters, and the suffix -ize will be replaced by the suffix -ise. Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. (look up 'vocabulary').
Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as "like" and "you know" is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication.There is no such thing as US English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell- checker will be adjusted to take account of the reinstated letter 'u' and the elimination of -ize. You will relearn your original national anthem, God Save The Queen.
July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.
You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers, or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you're not adult enough to be independent.Guns should only be handled by adults. If you're not adult enough to sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist then you're not grown up enough to handle a gun.
Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. A permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.
All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap and this is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand what we mean.
All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.
The Former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling gasoline)-roughly $10/US gallon. Get used to it.
You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with vinegar.
The cold tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as beer, and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager.South African beer is also acceptable as they are pound for pound the greatest sporting Nation on earth and it can only be due to the beer. They are also part of British Commonwealth - see what it did for them.
Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters.Watching Andie Macdowell attempt English dialogue in Four Weddings and a Funeral was an experience akin to having one's ears removed with a cheese grater.
You will cease playing American football. There is only one kind of proper football; you call it soccer. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a bunch of nancies). Don't try Rugby - the South Africans and Kiwis will thrash you, like they regularly thrash us. No more Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl, Cereal Bowl or Super Bowl. From now on..... get used to the World Cup.
Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside of America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware that there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. You will learn cricket, and we will let you face the South Africans first to take the sting out of their deliveries.
You must tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us mad.
An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies due (backdated to 1776).
Daily Tea Time begins promptly at 4 pm with proper cups, never mugs, with high quality biscuits (cookies) and cakes; strawberries in season.

God save the Queen.

Aerodyne_Icon_Martin_02

Martin McDowell — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 06:00:00 +0000

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Martin McDowell — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 06:00:00 +0000

Aerodyne_Icon_Martin_01

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CB106189

Martin McDowell — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 17:39:51 +0000

Woman Rubbing Noses with Puppy ca. 2002

Prinesite svoje bolne živali

Martin McDowell — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 17:51:34 +0000

Živim v državi, kjer imajo že večletno zgodovino zavesti za boljšo skrb živali. To sicer morda vsakogar ne bi prepričalo po branju člankov o večletni tradiciji brutalnih lovov na lisice, so pa nasprotno precej bolj strpni in dobrodelni do hišnih ljubljencev in konjev in bi marsikaj storili za njihovo blagostanje. Ravno ta teden smo se namreč na kliniki, kjer delam, pridružili projektu DogsTrust-a, ki to poletje nudi kastracijo/sterilizacijo ter mikročipiranje za zgolj 10 funtov (okoli €12.6). Zgolj v informacijo, mikročipiranje v Veliki Britaniji ni v domeni države in zato ni "brezplačno", kot v Sloveniji vendar tu lastnikom ni potrebno plačati takse v vključene v obveznem cepljenju. Tu obveznega cepljenja, tudi proti steklini, ni in tako tudi ni načina, da bi država pobrala kaj od tega. Seveda imajo posledično veliko manjši odstotek psov čipiranih, kot je to primer v Sloveniji. Se vračam nazaj na temo subvencioniranje posegov na malih živalih. DogsTrust je precej velika dobrodelna organizacija, ki se je za ta dotični projekt povezala z največjo britansko mrežo trgovin za male živali Pets at Home. Vse kar zahtevajo od stranke je, da prikažejo, da so zares upravičeni do subvencioniranega posega in to velja za ljudi na eni od oblik socialne pomoči in plačajo 10 funtov. Potem pokličejo eno od klinik, ki je vključena v projekt (npr. nas) in se naročijo. Precej enostavno. Sicer je podobnih dobrodelnih organizacij kar nekaj in nekatere, kot npr. RSPCA in PDSA imajo svoje klinike, kjer nudijo brezplačne ali precej cenejše veterinarske storitve. Bom zaključil članek z napisom, ki ga je ustanoviteljica PDSA Maria Dickin razobesila nad vhodom v prvo kliniko v londonskem Whitechapel-u, novembra 1917:

Bring your sick animals. Do not let them suffer. All animals treated. All treatment free.
Prinesite svoje bolne živali. Ne pustite jim trpeti. Zdravimo vse živali. Zdravljenje brezplačno.

[caption id="attachment_168" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Mike in Roki (slika sicer simbolična in nima direktne veze s člankom)"](slika sicer simbolična in nima direktne veze s člankom)" width="300" height="147" />[/caption]

mike_and_roki

Martin McDowell — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 17:53:42 +0000

Mike in Roki (slika sicer simbolična in nima direktne veze s člankom)

CB106189

Martin McDowell — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 18:00:17 +0000

Woman Rubbing Noses with Puppy ca. 2002

CB106189

Martin McDowell — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 18:04:07 +0000

Woman Rubbing Noses with Puppy ca. 2002

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all-firefox-logo

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alligator

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animalsinwarmemorial

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avisitfrommumjuly2007

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bell

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betty

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bodyflight

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bristolinapril

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brynilltyd

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bt

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canguro

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daytona21

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deland_hangar

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devils-bridge-pano

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dickens

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dolphin_smart

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ebel_05-oct-2007

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emailgen

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fast

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fata

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fentonspetshow2007

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four_way_skyvan

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ga8-airvan

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geminids

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geminids_large

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google_maps_pembs2

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google_maps_pembs

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google_maps_severn

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graph_summary_barchart

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halifax

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hickstead

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hillsborough

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hsbc_logo_only

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hudicki10

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img_42827_med

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insightjun08galleryascot2large

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isp_review_top_10

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jerome_bartens_w_farther

Martin McDowell — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 19:04:23 +0000

logo_pcc

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lounge

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manatee

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martin_120x150

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martin_z-hills_2

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masterbedroom

Martin McDowell — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 19:04:32 +0000

mrcvscertificate

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my_first_reserve2

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orlando_intl_drv_2

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Bodyflight Bedford

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pc310071

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pembrokeshire10jun2007

Martin McDowell — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 19:06:46 +0000

petrolstation

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peuikona150x80

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pic2_1

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picviewbig

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portsmouth_fc

Martin McDowell — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 19:06:56 +0000

precna_sep_2007

Martin McDowell — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 19:06:57 +0000

providentlogo

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pst

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qtrax

Martin McDowell — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 19:07:07 +0000

qtrax_capture_01

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qtrax_capture_02

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queens_visit

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rcvs

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rcvs_map

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report_27_09

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roki

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screenhunter_0022

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screenshot

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screenshot-drugisvet-vslovenijistrmoglaviloletalo-mozillafir

Martin McDowell — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 19:07:41 +0000

sebastian_logo_in_bar

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sexy_santa

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sharwoods_mild_curry_powder

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sky_venture_gasilska

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skyvan

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skyventure_orlando

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slow_internet_uk

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snowdome11

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som_bovec_aug_2007

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som_novo_mesto_junij2007jpg

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st_pauls

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stannshead

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svo3

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svo4

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thebrynilltydbunch

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traveltowales

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ts

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twin_otter_deland

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virgin_brand_tcm4-100

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winterinmarch2007

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wolfs_castle

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screenhunter_00221

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screenhunter

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screenhunter1

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Sitemap

Martin McDowell — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 12:28:27 +0000

PD reserve and Cypres2 Sport

Martin McDowell — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 18:32:47 +0000

protrack_02

Martin McDowell — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 18:35:01 +0000

iain_banks-the_business

Martin McDowell — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 09:35:45 +0000

Wordpress trga gate

Martin McDowell — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 20:38:51 +0000

Če izgleda, da bom delal reklamo za Wordpress, potem ste prebrali prav. Tale blog, ki ga trenutno gledate (poleti, leta gospodovega 2008), deluje v spletni aplikaciji, ki se ji reče Wordpress. Blog sem začel pisati konec 2006 na Googlovem Bloggerju (a.k.a. Blogspot-u) a mi je bilo dosti omejene funkcionalnosti, ki jo je nudil Google. Kupil sem si majhen kos Bluehost-ovega strežnika in namestil Wordpress. Vsekakor priporočam bolj zavzetim in tudi nekoliko manj zavzetim piscem spletnih dnevnikov - slednji postanejo morda celo malo bolj zavzeti, ker je uporaba Wordpressa precej zanimiva. Sama osnovna aplikacija ima ogromno funkcionalnosti, ki pa jih lahko še nadgradite - v mojem primeru imama dodatke, kot so Zemanta, mobilni vmesnik, prikazovalnik Facebook stanja, prikazovanje strani preko medpomnilnika (cache-ja) in še mnogi drugi. Za slednjega sem kar presenečen, da ni že v osnovni različici programa. Precej dodelan imajo sistem vstavljanja slik in sploh raznih medijev (zvok, slika, film) in to precej bolje, kot je to v Google-u, grafičnih tem za bloge je na stotine in so na voljo preko Wordpressa ali pa jih lahko sami poiščete na spletu.

bristol_cathedral

Martin McDowell — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 19:04:06 +0000

Schmap-ing me

Martin McDowell — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 19:15:42 +0000

[caption id="attachment_639" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="The photo of Bristol Cathedral chosen for the fifth edition of the Schmap Bristol Guide"][/caption]

I received a mail today from an on-line publisher of digital travel guides called Schmap that my photo of Bristol Cathedral was chosen to be included in the fifth edition of the Schmap Bristol Guide.

I received an e-mail a while ago saying that the photo was short-listed for it and I didn't think my photos were good enough for somebody to publish them in a guide. Well I am still not a great photographer, maybe not even a mediocre one as my equipment is testament to, but I am still proud to be chosen none the less :-) The page with my photo can be seen here.

Update 9. April 2010 I have heard from the Amroth Castle website that they want to publish a couple of my photos that I took at the Robin Hood filming location in Freshwater West. http://www.AmrothCastle.com http://www.amrothcastle.com/PembrokeshireNationalPark.aspx

Tenby harbour

Martin McDowell — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 12:49:36 +0000

Tenby harbour

Tenby

Martin McDowell — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 12:50:45 +0000

Tenby harbour

Martin McDowell — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 12:53:54 +0000

Tenby harbour

Tenby

Martin McDowell — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 13:04:48 +0000

Upper Frog Street

Tenby lifeboat

Martin McDowell — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 13:11:18 +0000

The new Tenby lifeboat station with the lifeboat in the foreground

Tenby

Martin McDowell — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 13:20:05 +0000

[caption id="attachment_656" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Tenby harbour with the Quay on left, lifeboat station above it, Castle Hill in the centre top"][/caption] I have put it off for a long time but a sightee-er to Tenby was well due. The town of Tenby lies on the south Pembrokeshire coast and if leaving from Haverfordwest can take the road across the Cledau bridge or you can, by saving the 75p bridge toll and, depriving the Pembrokeshire County Council :-), go through Canaston Bridge. [caption id="attachment_680" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="St. Catherine's Island with Castle beach in foreground"][/caption] I had the privilege to see it on a beautiful sunny July day in 2008. There are a few parking spots close to town but the multi-storey car park is your best bet. See map here. I have been to a few British seaside towns but this beats them all with it delightful charm and lack off cheesy entertainment that so often can be found in the stereotypical British seaside town. As I was born in Portsmouth I feel free to slag it off as an example to my point. I wanted to take the opportunity and see Caldey island, which is just off the coast from Tenby but at is was a Sunday and the island is de facto run by monks it was closed. All you could take is sightseeing boat trips round the island. I was on the seal safari trip. Besides getting really up close to some curious seals I had the chance to get a first seat view of the Tenby lifeboat being pulled back up into the lifeboat house. For those who are not familiar with the procedure of launching the RNLI lifeboats in Tenby is that they keep the boat completely closed-up in the lifeboat and when an emergency demands the service of the RNLI lifeboat that is quickly released and the boat slides down the slipway and straight into the water. [caption id="attachment_660" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="The new Tenby lifeboat station with the lifeboat in the foreground"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_668" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="The new Tenby lifeboat station"][/caption] When the mission is finished it then returnes and is pulled back in reverse into the boathouse as seen in the gallery and in the photos above.

The new Tenby lifeboat station

Martin McDowell — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 13:41:51 +0000

The new Tenby lifeboat station

Tenby

Martin McDowell — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 19:18:47 +0000

St. Catherine's Island with Castle beach in foreground

Beiging 2008 Olympics medals winners in gymnastics - uneven bars

Martin McDowell — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 21:35:29 +0000

Olympic rings

Martin McDowell — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 21:53:54 +0000

Olympic rings

Martin McDowell — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 21:54:52 +0000

he_kexin_wikipedia

Martin McDowell — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 21:56:47 +0000

Could team GB be up for another medal?

Martin McDowell — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 22:07:10 +0000

[caption id="attachment_683" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="(L-R) Nastia Liukin, He Kexin and Yang Yilin. (Photo from http://en.beijing2008.cn/)"][/caption] It is possible, at least if the suspicions of a hacker »Stryde Hax« a.k.a. Mike Walker are true. There is a possibility that the Chinese gymanst He Kexin that won the gold medal at the uneven bars at the Beiging olympics in 2008 was born 01-Jan-1994 and not 01-Jan-1992 as the Olympic website now states, making the gymanst 14, which is under the required age of 16. I first picked up the story on the TechRadar UK website but the suspicions were first raised in July by the New York Times and in fact draws suspicion on another gymanst as well - Jiang Yuyuan. The Chinese officials have produced proof of their age (it being over 16) so this could be down to a simple error in the xls documents Stryde Hax has found. The NY Times article also refers to the Wikipedia page and at the time of me writing this it has stated He Kexin's age as 01.01. (year disputed). But if the rumours turn out to be true it could mean that Beth Tweddle, who qualified as 4^th could get the bronze medal.

Britanci in olimpijada 2012

Martin McDowell — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 17:24:10 +0000

Ravno se je končala zaključna slovesnost Olimpijskih iger v Pekingu in oči so seveda že zazrte v London, ki bo gostil naslednje OI leta 2012. Tu se mnogi sprašujejo, kako bodo OI uspele Britancem (ker živim v Veliki Britaniji »tu« pomeni v Britaniji in ne v Sloveniji). V primerjavi s Kitajsko VB ni ravno velika država, je pa precej velika v evropskem smislu in ne vidim razloga, zakaj bi imeli z organizacijo hude težave. Je pa edini trn v olimpijski peti ta, da se britanci na dolgo in široko pritožujejo nad samimi OI in da jih ne bi smeli imeti. Večinoma se pritožujejo nad stroški, ki naj bi nastali, na prestiž, ki s tem pride, pa noben noče pomisliti ali pa se jim ne zdi dovolj vredno truda. Sam sem mnenja, da lahko tu organizirajo gatetrgajoče OI samo skup morajo stopit. Mogoče sedaj, ko je bila olimpijska zastava predana londonskemu županu, se bodo malo zamislili in z večjim zanosom zagrabili to priložnost.

the_pierhead_building_cardiff_bay

Martin McDowell — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 06:00:00 +0000

dejan_fabcic

Martin McDowell — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 13:51:31 +0000

Drž' se Dejan

Martin McDowell — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 14:04:27 +0000

[caption id="attachment_705" align="alignright" width="212" caption="Dejan Fabčič"][/caption] Najboljše želje po uspehu so namenjene vsem, ki se udeležujejo Paraolimpijskih iger, še posebno pa Dejanu, ki ga osebno poznam iz bivše službe. Svoje prve nastope bo imel 7. septembra:

7. septembra: 200m mešano
8. septembra: 100m prosto
10. septembra: 100m hrbtno
12. septembra: 100m prsno
14. septembra: 50m prosto

Povezava do strani na OI v Pekingu >> Ko je začel delati v isti firmi, kot jaz, je ravno zamenjal trenerja, kar je bila zanj odločilnega pomena (vsaj tako, kot se spomnim) na poti k vrhunskim dosežkom, ki so kmalu tudi sledili. Oglejte si še njegovo spletno stran: http://www.logon.si/dejanfabcic/

Vsi naši paraolimpijci 2008:

Atletika: Henrik Plank, Tatjana Majcen Ljubič, Jože Flere in Tanja Cerkvenik;
Golbal: Gorazd Dolanc, Boštjan Vogrinčič, Ivan Vinkler, Matej Ledinek, Dejan Pirc in Simon Podobnikar
Kolesarstvo: David Kuster;
Namizni tenis: Bojan Lukežič, Mateja Pintar, Andreja Dolinar, Jolanda Belavič in Ivan Lisac;
Plavanje: Dejan Fabčič;
Sedeča odbojka: Saša Kotnik, Danica Gošnak, Alenka Šart, Marinka Cencelj, Emilie Gradišek, Boža Kovačič, Bogomira Jakin, Ana Justin, Suzana Ocepek, Anita Goltnik Urnaut in Štefka Tomič;
Strelstvo: Franc Pinter in Damjan Pavlin.

john_grisham_the_brethren

Martin McDowell — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 08:01:40 +0000

the_norwegian_church_cardiff_bay

Martin McDowell — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:18:14 +0000

the_norwegian_church_cardiff_bay1

Martin McDowell — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:22:58 +0000

kaitenzushi

Martin McDowell — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:35:40 +0000

kaitenzushi1

Martin McDowell — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:36:25 +0000

kaitenzushi2

Martin McDowell — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:37:13 +0000

The red dragon will lead the way

Martin McDowell — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 19:24:09 +0000

[caption id="attachment_736" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="The Pierhead building in Cardiff Bay"][/caption] Always wanted to see the capital of Wales but always ended up just drive pass it on the M4. The closest I ever got to the actual city centre was to visit the local Ikea store while I was still in the process of furnishing my small flat in Haverfordwest. Here are some more detailed instructions for those who might want to see it also but don't know how to get there. As I came from the west I took the A4232 from the M4 and got off going toward Penarth and Penarth Marina. There is parking available at the south end of the Barrage. [umap id="9783" size="s" alignment="center"] The only problem is that it is not that cheap. There is a P+R (Park and Ride) available close to the A4232 for £3 while at the south Barrage park it is £0.50 per hour. However, once there you can have a look at how the barrage locks work. After that you can take a walk on the barrage across the bay to Cardiff bay and Mermaid Quay. The other option is to walk to the inner side of the bay next to the parking lot and take the water bus to Mermaid Quay. A return ticket will cost you £5. As I had just missed the boat I decided to take a walk but you have to keep in mind the barrage is in operation and the locks that they use to get the boats in and out of Cardiff bay seem to be very busy. There are 3 locks at the barrage and once one of the bridges goes up you cannot cross. All you can do is wait. [caption id="attachment_738" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="The Norwegian church in Cardiff Bay"][/caption] Once you get to the other side of the barrage you will see parts of the old docks that now sit there, abandoned. Just as you enter Mermaid Quay you will see the Norwegian church that was built in 1868 for the use of the Norwegian community in Cardiff. Today it is not used as a church anymore but has been converted into an arts centre and café.

The red dragon will lead the way / Y ddraig goch ddyry cychwyn

The Cardiff bay and Marmaid Quay offers a large variety of restaurants and cafés as well as some interesting architecture like the Welsh National assembly building, The Pierhead building... In fear of being an obvious geeky tourist I hesitated from taking photos of every single building. The Cardiff Quay is a way out of the Cardiff city centre so it will take a bus or even better the Aquabus that takes you up the river Taff right to Cardiff castle and The Millenium Stadium. The trip takes just under half an hour. As the Aquabus rides along the Taff river you get a good view of the Millenium Stadium which offers tours of the place, just remember to go to the other side, to Westgate street. I found that only after I came home and researched it on the internet :-( [caption id="attachment_745" align="alignright" width="310" caption="... not an actual photo from Zushi"][/caption] After going round the city centre I stumbled upon a sushi bar (Zushi) and gave it a try, never been to one of these places and always wanted to see what sushi was all about. Was a bit confused by the conveyor belt and what exactly each dish was - the menu wasn't to helpful either as it only told you what price was associated with a particular plate colour. So I played it safe and ordered noodles from the menu - expecting a small overpriced dish of noodles and salmon but getting something that looked more like a huge salad bowl, like the one I have at home. There was also a strange wooden ladle in it. I wasn't exactly sure what it was for: did they want to employ me and have the rest of the customers served with my lunch?? At the end I couldn't resist myself and I had to ask the waiter - it is apparently to sip the stir the soup and noodles :-P

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="202" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption]

After lunch I decided to head home. I was warned about walking the streets from the city centre to the bay so I opted in for a bus which, again, brought me to a steep learning curve situation where I was rather puzzled what to do next after I paid the driver. I kept on expecting the ticket to appear out of the box I just shoved some coins in, only to be directed by a patience-loosing bus driver that I had to take the ticket out of a different box - how was I supposed to know that??!! I am still a tourist you know :-( To top my ignorance I asked a rather silly question which I found quite reasonable at the time - I asked the driver how will I know if it is the the right bus stop I have to get off. The driver smirked and told me that it will be the last stop of the route. - Well, again, how was I supposed to know that either. I come from Ljubljana where we on certain routes, like the no. 7 have bus routes that have the end bus stop somwehere else in relation to where the bus stops to go back the other way. Then, as another example, there is the number 2 route that is actually a circular route. So there :-) I came back to Mermaid Quay only to realise I would have to wait over half an hour for the water bus to the south barrage so I decided to walk again - it was, anyway, a nice and sunny afternoon. Great trip, would advise it to anybody. I didn't get to see all parts as planned but that can be left for future weekends. P.S. The »The red dragon will lead the way« title is the Cardiff moto. In Welsh it is »Y ddraig goch ddyry cychwyn« ---------- http://picasaweb.google.com/Martin.McDowell/Cardiff

st_martins_church_laugharne

Martin McDowell — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 15:45:22 +0000

laugharne_castle

Martin McDowell — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 15:50:08 +0000

laugharne_castle1

Martin McDowell — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 15:51:08 +0000

Sands of speed

Martin McDowell — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:22:49 +0000

This is the name of a 7 mile (11 km) stretch of sandy beach located on the south Wales coastline between Tenby and Swansea. The most impressive feature of this beach is its flatness and straightness at such a long length. You can see the satellite view below. [umap id="10608" size="m" alignment="center"] In the early 20th century the sands were often used as a racing course and later, in the 1920s, it was used for land speed records. It was even used as an aircraft runway. Durine the 2nd world war the sands were taken over by the British MOD who used it as a firing range. It owns it to this day, but it is open to the public. There are, however many signs that warn visitors about possible unexploded devices. From 2004 the Sands are closed to vehicles due to safety reasons, but, on occasions, there are some rally car events staged there. Some episodes of BBC's Top Gear were filmed there. Is an example...

To see the photos taken on this trip click here to enter Picasa.

For more information about Pendine Sands please visit the Pendine Sands Wikipedia page. There is a good parking area by the entrance to the Sands. There is a Speed museum there as well. When I arrived there I could see many horses in the car park that were used for horseback riding on the Sands. As mentioned at the top the Pendine Sands are 7 miles long and I certainly didn't really want to walk the whole length. Don't get me wrong, they look spectacular but after walking for 10 minutes it feels a bit like a damp sand desert. But you can see a huge stretch of water - slightly reminded me of Daytona beach. However Daytona Beach beach is about 23 miles (37 km) long. I later moved down the coast and visited the litle village of Laugharne. First I stopped at St. Martin's church on the northern part of the village in which grounds the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas is buried in. After that I proceeded towards Laugharne castle in the southern part of Laugharne. [caption id="attachment_762" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="St. Martin's church in Laugharne"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_763" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Laugharne castle"][/caption]

gas_meter

Martin McDowell — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 18:53:57 +0000

mainlogoswalec

Martin McDowell — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 14:52:46 +0000

Swalec and a gas meter reading error

Martin McDowell — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 15:03:22 +0000

This will be my public consumer awareness post. Just for those who don't know me, I have not lived in the UK for many years so I had no real idea how much utilities cost. Sure you can compare prices between different companies but its difficult to know, how much you spend. However I always thought I was paying a bit to much for gas but was delaying the time to actually call up the gas copmany and ask for some help. I also had a guy come in and inspect the gas heater as part of my landlord's annual obligation. The company I am with is Swalec and recently they changed their website and, by chance, I received a recent gas bill which was as usual very high. i forgot to mention this company sends bills every trimester, so I did sometimes think that I just felt the bills were so high because of that. Well, the new website enabled you to report gas meter readings on-line. When I did that I noticed there were instructions on how to do that. Although I had reported meter readings on the phone before that I thought it might clarify a few things for me. i ws surprised to see that you were supposed to read the meter only to the decimal point and no more than that. The meter reading I had on my previous bills seem to always include an extra digit after the decimal point! How could this be possible? My best answer is - I have no idea. The initial meter reading must have been done by someone from Swalec and although some bills come based on estimated readings some come from actual meter readings and these were all done with an extra digit. First I thought I was mistaken but I re-checked the instructions and there was no doubt - they have been overcharging me (via meter readings) ten times (10x). If you look closer at the bill it says the unit us "cu meters" which is cubic meters or m3. That corresponds to the values before the comma. I received a delayed re-vised bill where they re-calculated all bills payed after I moved in over a year ago. I had been overcharged by about five hundred pounds. don't let this happen to you, check you meter yourself and check the instructions - see how you broadband connection can repay dividends. Insert from the instructions page:

Read the numbers from left to right, including all 'zeros' but ignoring the red number(s) or any number(s) after a decimal point.

So if you think your gas bill is to high it might not be all down to the increasing oil prices. Check.

pa190019

Martin McDowell — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 18:54:01 +0000

pa190020

Martin McDowell — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 18:59:28 +0000

pa190021

Martin McDowell — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 19:00:05 +0000

pa190022

Martin McDowell — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 19:00:44 +0000

pa190023

Martin McDowell — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 19:02:24 +0000

Ooops, or how I ripped my container on a Cessna 206, part 1

Martin McDowell — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 19:39:11 +0000

My recent visit to the motherland gave me the opportunity for yet another skydiving session, I joined my instructor and mentor Aleš Debeljak from the Paranoia skydiving school. All went well and on the third jump of the second day just as I exited the Cessna 206 I apparently managed to hook my rig on the side of the door which resulted in a nasty tear in my container on the reserve parachute flap. I am suspecting poor stitching but will have to send the whole thing to Florida to be fixed. Here are photos of the my sad-looking Aerodyne Icon Sport container:

Ooops, or how I ripped my container on a Cessna 206, part 2 (martinmcdowell.com)
Ooops, or how I ripped my container on a Cessna 206, part 3 (martinmcdowell.com)

Ooops, or how I ripped my container on a Cessna 206, part 2

Martin McDowell — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 21:14:42 +0000

I have now managed to send off the container to the manufacturer Aerodyne in Florida. I have just driven back from Swansea where I send off the container through a DHL ServicePoint location in the Parc Tawe Staples shop. Great service, if you ask me, as you don't have to pay a high price to have your packed shipped and you also choose what boy its going to be sent in - the price of shipment depends on the size of the box, but with a upper weight limit. I sent in a large box which has an upper weight limit of 5kg - even though my container weighed only 3.5 kg. There are currently about 750 ServicePoint locations in the UK. When the lady in Staples was helping me pack I kept on thinking that I am forgetting to post something, but I could not put my finger on exactly what. Considering I still had an disassembled container this morning I had to move fast so I unintentionally forgot to send the Aerodyne form that should be in the DHL package. What can I say, ooops for the second time?

Where's my container? (martinmcdowell.com)
Ooops, or how I ripped my container on a Cessna 206, part 3 (martinmcdowell.com)

Where's my container?

Martin McDowell — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 20:11:50 +0000

Thinking the next time I see my skydiving rig would be in a few weeks - all nice and repaired I forgot about it after leaving at the Swansea Staples store. It turns out it is not going to be that straightforward. At least not for the moment. As I sent it through a specialised courier service I am able to track it and it seems to be stuck in Wilmington Airpark in Ohio, USA for a week today. I have reported the problem to DHL and I have received a reply today that everything is OK on their side but it might be held up in customs. I just hope its not because I forgot to enclose the service repair form. This is the current report from the DHL tracker:

Date	Time	Location Service Area	Checkpoint Details
17.11.08	16:52:00	Bristol - UK	Shipment picked up
17.11.08	18:18:00	Bristol - UK	Departing origin
17.11.08	19:07:00	Bristol - UK	Departed from DHL facility in Bristol - UK
17.11.08	21:36:00	East Midlands - UK	Arrived at DHL facility in East Midlands - UK
18.11.08	22:49:00	East Midlands - UK	Departed from DHL facility in East Midlands - UK
19.11.08	02:31:00	DHL Wilmington Airpark, OH - USA	Arrived at DHL facility in DHL Wilmington Airpark - USA
19.11.08	03:34:00	DHL Wilmington Airpark, OH - USA	Clearance delay
19.11.08	04:22:00	DHL Wilmington Airpark, OH - USA	Shipment on hold
20.11.08	03:57:00	DHL Wilmington Airpark, OH - USA	Clearance delay
20.11.08	04:28:00	DHL Wilmington Airpark, OH - USA	Shipment on hold
21.11.08	04:37:00	DHL Wilmington Airpark, OH - USA	Clearance delay
21.11.08	04:43:00	DHL Wilmington Airpark, OH - USA	Shipment on hold
22.11.08	03:38:00	DHL Wilmington Airpark, OH - USA	Clearance delay
22.11.08	03:53:00	DHL Wilmington Airpark, OH - USA	Shipment on hold
23.11.08	12:08:00	DHL Wilmington Airpark, OH - USA	Clearance delay
23.11.08	12:26:00	DHL Wilmington Airpark, OH - USA	Shipment on hold
25.11.08	04:30:00	DHL Wilmington Airpark, OH - USA	Clearance delay
25.11.08	04:57:00	DHL Wilmington Airpark, OH - USA	Shipment on hold

See where it is now on Boxoh. UPDATE (28-Nov-2008) I have just checked te DHL tracking page and it says that my container should have arrived. However if you look closer it does look realy strange:

November 28, 2008		05:27		DHL Wilmington Airpark, OH - USA		Departed from DHL facility in DHL Wilmington Airpark - USA
November 28, 2008		05:59		Orlando, FL - USA		Arrived at DHL facility in Orlando - USA

If this records actual time it left Wilmington and arrived in Orlando - how could it have taken 32 minutes when the distance is 1080 kilometres. That is some speed 2025 km/h. Well, of course, I don't think thi sis wat happened. Any thoughts?

marloes_sands_1

Martin McDowell — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 07:33:49 +0000

Marloes Sands

Martin McDowell — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 07:50:52 +0000

I have tried to visit this place before but the last time got a bit dissapointed as there was the standard parking fee. Today was a very good time to see the place, sunny and not a lot of people on it. Oh yes, and the parking was free. By the way, I am all for conservation and good old cash goes a long way in conservation but ripping local of so that they can use the local nature is just wrong. The place sees a lot of tourists but the rest of Pembrokeshire-ians live here and want to enjoy the surroundings so why are the locals charges just as tourists are. In any case, Marloes Sands is definately not to be missed if you visit Pembrokeshire. Different from lonf sandy beaches like Pendine, Newgale or Whitesands there is lots of interesting tectonics that make Marloes Sands very uniquie to the point of being eerie. I kept on expecting dinosaurs to come charging at me round the corner. See the album by clicking here.

mitja_danes_za_zmeraj

Martin McDowell — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 13:48:53 +0000

myke_lowe

Martin McDowell — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 13:53:48 +0000

myke_lowe_together_forever

Martin McDowell — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 14:17:11 +0000

Vets on mikes

Martin McDowell — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 14:21:41 +0000

[caption id="attachment_865" align="alignright" width="180" caption="Mitja - Danes za zmeraj"][/caption] Having gone to a veterinary university I was expecting most of us to be in some vet related jobs after the arduous 5 years that took us to become qualified vets. Not for my generation. A few years ago Mitja Šedlbauer turned to the musical side of his talents and created a rather nice pop album »Danes za zmeraj« under the artists name »Mita«. I think he made two or three videos and the music was quite often played on the Slovene radio stations. [caption id="attachment_866" align="alignleft" width="119" caption="Miha Lavrenčič a.k.a. Myke Lowe"][/caption] The album was produced by another friend of mine Peter Penko who later produced one of the best rock albums »Rh-« for the Slovenian rock band »Siddharta«. Thinking that was just a fluke - now another schoolfriend from the same university has also started his musical career. His name is Miha Lavrenčič and goes by the name of »Myke Lowe«. His album is called »First« and Myke already has a single out »Together Forever«, the video was made by Talemitt. Wanna buy - the album is available DRM free in the mp3 format to download as a whole or as individual songs. See here: http://www.trackseller.com/artistdisplay.php?id=1800

Gallery

Martin McDowell — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 21:00:22 +0000

My photos can be found either on this website or on the following pages:

Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/McDragon/)
Picasa (http://picasaweb.google.com/Martin.McDowell)
Photobucket (http://photobucket.com/McDragon)

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Another Swalec f***-up

Martin McDowell — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 17:55:57 +0000

After going through the fiasco of Swalec charging me 10x more through the meter reading by adding an extra decimal to my gas usage I have found out thatthe person or persons reading meters in our areas should have a comprehensive educational refresher course in meter reading. Read the article here... A few days ago I received my gas bill - the last meter reading was based on an actual reading of the meter. To those who don't clearly understand this is that a person, hopefully from Swalec, came to my meter and read the numbers of the meter. Cool. But I went and checked the meter anyway and to my surprise saw that the meter reading on the bill was 504 and the numbers on the meter show 495 (495.14 to be precise). Dear Swalec, how is it possible that the actual meter reading is higher than the one I obviously took after your man/woman read it. Did I turn into a energy supplier and pushed some gas back into the system?? I am sure there is not much natural gas available under Haverfordwest despite all the lngs we have in the area.

Vogel

Martin McDowell — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 20:37:42 +0000

Vogel - the view

Martin McDowell — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 20:48:12 +0000

Skiing on Vogel

Martin McDowell — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 20:51:45 +0000

Started off while it was still dark. Plan A was going to ski on Krvavec. No plan B at that time. Just as we left Cerklje there was a suspicious hold-up in the traffic which turned out to be due to the great number of cars - all heading for the same ski resort. My friend and I parked just soon after Cerklje , where the buses usually park. That meant were were at least a few kilometres aways from the valley cable station. This didn't sound good and quite surprising as it was a Tuesday and still a working day. We had to come up with a plan B double time or faced having to return home. Plan B came to be the Vogel ski resort which turned out to be a great idea. It took us about 45 minutes to get there and once we found a parking found no queue to go onto the cable lift. However once we reached the top cable station we found out how right we were to choose this place. The views of the valley below and the surrounding mountains were stunning and there was also plenty of snow to enjoy - 260 cm (thats 8 and a half feet for my friends back in Wales :-) See the gallery here...

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Martin McDowell — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 08:16:21 +0000

The Corf EVL Z2

Gamlins store Cardiff

Martin McDowell — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 08:19:25 +0000

Guitar shopping - Cort EVL Z2

Martin McDowell — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 17:17:01 +0000

The day was good, the sun was up and the road was clear, well just to Haverfordwest golf club, after that I got stuck behind the never-ending queue of cars driving 40mph on a 60mph road :-) I'm not bitter. Really I am not. My final destination was Cardiff and Bristol although the latter was more as an alternative as I could not find any good music shops there over the internet. In Cardiff I visited Cranes and Gamlins. The first was a renowned music shop established in 1851 but I found it difficult to browse the guitars as many of them were high up on the wall and the price tags so small that they were illegible. Gamlins seemed to have a better collection and the guitars weren't stacked high because the ceiling just wasn't that high anyway and the price tags were clearly visible. After passing the very tempting Gibsons that mostly cost over a grand I settled-in to the more affordable ones. I had a go at playing three quite different guitars and after a thorough test decided on the Cort EVL Z2. True it has a more hard sound than the other two I tried but it was much nicer to play and that in the end is quite important. Also I hope that the harder sound will be adjustable with the amp and different type strings but the ease the guitar is played cannot be changed easily or at all - I have learnt that very hard lesson from my acoustic :-)

funky_music_store_01

Martin McDowell — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 16:49:33 +0000

funky_music_store_02

Martin McDowell — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 16:53:09 +0000

Another review of my blog

Martin McDowell — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 17:04:14 +0000

This is actually the first proper review of my blog, the first article about it was in regards to the tragic plane crash that happened in January 2008. Read the article on my blog about it here, here and here or go to the Drugi Svet website. This other review just popped-up yesterday and I only noticed it after checking the traffic to the site and with that the site referrers. The review was published on FunkyMusicStore.com and is run by Mark Veny. I am realy flattered by the content:

Entire material is interesting and happy to read, it quite withholds you addicted. Every time I am reading this blog I disregard how the time passes. I need to confirm a true master at work. Visitors can have an opinion and share their comments on each post which is a requirement for a blog. Like the fact that the site is written with an open mind. Liked the ready demonstrations he had so far shown. The author does not pull back, he gets straight to the point. There is a feel of originality about the topics and the views on this blog.

Nuff said.

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Martin McDowell — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 19:37:01 +0000

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Martin McDowell — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 19:55:41 +0000

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

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Martin McDowell — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 19:58:35 +0000

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

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Martin McDowell — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 20:06:05 +0000

My Corf EVL Z2

pod_xt_live

Martin McDowell — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 20:17:31 +0000

Jamming with a Line6 foot pedal

Martin McDowell — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 13:00:47 +0000

I had the opportunity to sample a great studio-grade professional foot pedal from a company called Line6. The machine is called a POD XT Live and was lent to me for a few days by a friend. On the website the POD XT Live is described as an »uncomplicated, gig-ready tone machine that's portable and adaptable to different real world stage and recording environments«. Well, it is truly impressive and quite complicated to a novice like myself. My first task given to me was to read through the manual which, I must say, is not exactly a pocket edition. OK, it's not War and peace but it DOES have about 190 pages!! Luckily there is a Quick start guide for those who »don't need no stinking manual« :-) It has loads of different connections which I won't even try to describe in fear of sounding stupid - you pros will know them anyway and if you don't, see the Line 6 website. It does have standard output/input sockets, Variax socket and even a USB socket to connect the whole thing to a PC. Sorry all Linux users as the software is for Windows and Mac users only. Shame on Line 6, I just hope the Wine will be able to run it successfuly. Confirming the pro-esness of this machine are the artists that use it. There are: Garbage, U2's The Edge, Radiohead, Nine inch nails, Keane, Green day, Jamiroquai, Muse, Slipknot, Kaiser chiefs and many more. [caption id="attachment_934" align="aligncenter" width="473" caption="Image courtesy of Line6.com"][/caption]

robert_ludlum_the_bancroft_strategy

Martin McDowell — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 09:40:21 +0000

sometime_around_midnight

Martin McDowell — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 22:21:57 +0000

The Airborne Toxic Event’s single »Sometime Around Midnight«

Martin McDowell — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 22:30:26 +0000

This song from the rock group »The Airborne Toxic Event« has been playing quite a bit on the BBC Radio 1 here in the UK and it stands to be a hit. The group is from L.A. and has been put in the indie section of music tastes. There has, however, been some confusion about its release in the UK, the TATE website states that it should have been released yesterday on HMV, Amazon mp3 and iTunes but it has come out that only the latter has actually made it available. Both the HMV and Amazon sites claim it will be released next week, February 2nd 2009. In any case, those who have iTunes and are willing to get their limited version (I presume, as they still dish out DRM music there for the time being) from iTunes. Click here to get to it (need iTunes installed though). So if you are willing to wait these few days to get a nice free-2-use non-DRM mp3 go to somewhere else, but iTunes.

Favourite quotes

Martin McDowell — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 21:56:17 +0000

If you are easily offended, please leave this page immediately!!

If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you

Got a bad hair day? Get a fucking hat!

I like to shag my girlfriend during a thunderstorm. This way we can pretend we are taking part in the conception of the Antichrist (Frankie Boyle on Mock the Week)

- Frankie Boyle on Mock the Week

There is nothing more dangerous than a resourceful idiot.

- Dilbert, pop culture icon

Compromising old Windows boxes is like stealing candy from a baby. Compromising Linux boxes is more like stealing candy from a baby that's locked away in a subterranean vault with armed robot guards, packs of savage Rottweilers and lots of Indiana Jones-style traps. On the moon. (Gary Marshall in TechRadar UK)

Some of the stuff is influenced by personal mishaps in life. Nobody has lived a perfectly good life without tragedies and we’ve used them as part of our songwriting. I think that dwelling on the darker side of life seems much more interesting and evocative than the happier things...I’ve got somewhere to put my depression and it’s called My Dying Bride...I'm generally a happy guy!

- Aaron Stainthorpe from the metal band "My Dying Bride"

My girlfriend gave me a choice: her or skydiving. I will miss her very much.

...

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Martin McDowell — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 07:00:00 +0000

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Martin McDowell — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 07:00:00 +0000

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Martin McDowell — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 07:00:00 +0000

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Martin McDowell — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 07:00:00 +0000

Carn Menyn in the Preselis

Martin McDowell — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 18:24:58 +0000

carn_menyn_in_the_preselis

Martin McDowell — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 18:51:50 +0000

Stonehenge = Made in the Preselis

Martin McDowell — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 18:57:54 +0000

This morning was going to be a another great day for hiking as the skies were clear and there was no rain forecast for the whole day. I was, again, following the great book Walking in Pembrokeshire - 41 circular walks in the National park. By the way, this was walk no 21: Carn Menyn and the »Bluestones«.

It took me a bit to find the correct site for parking as I kept switching between the book and the Ordnance survey map. I found it in the and and I was the only parked car there, not that there was much more space for more cars, anyway. The hike was quite easy and the gradient was never that steep, the Slovene in me made the trip even easier, the only thing my Slovene side could not cope with with was the very strong and quite cold wind. It was just about 0 centigrade according to my thermometer in my car. Up on the hill it was probably less and the streams were beginning to freeze over. That was a blessing in itself as the slope is very boggy and in some places quite tricky to cross the numerous streams. Anyway, great trip with one very intriguing trivia associated with it. The Stonehenge stones were apparently harvested from this exact spot according to a geologist's discovery back in 1922, although this is disputed by some. By the way, Stonehenge is 135 miles (217km) away from this spot and were are talking about the direct route and you couldn't exactly stick one of those babies in your pocket and carry them to England and they sure as hell won't fit in the back of a Vauxhall Corsa ;-) See the gallery here...

carn_llidi_3

Martin McDowell — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 08:46:40 +0000

Beautiful sunset above the sea at Whitesands

carn_llidi_1

Martin McDowell — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 08:49:47 +0000

Remnants of an iron-age settlement

carn_llidi_2

Martin McDowell — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 08:50:28 +0000

At this point I was barely able to stand up properly, yet alone take a photo

Carn Llidi

Martin McDowell — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 11:27:45 +0000

[caption id="attachment_976" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Coetan Arthur burial chamber on St Davids Head"][/caption]

OK, same book used from the last walk, but this time it was walk no. 11: St David's Head and Carn Llidi. You start off at Whitesands near St David which is convenient as there is lots of parking available - you will be charged parking if you come during the tourist season.

The Carn Lidi hill is a prominent feature in southern Pembrokeshire and you can see it from miles away. In fact I could clearly see it from the Preseli mountains from the a trek I did a couple of weeks ago to Foel Eryr. The walk is straightforward enough but by the time I got to the north-western part of the walk the wind was really really strong. In fact I was a bit tempted to do some skydiving practice by performing some RW (relative work) positions. [caption id="attachment_977" align="aligncenter" width="501" caption="At this point I was barely able to stand up properly, yet alone take a photo"][/caption] As I turned inland and looked towards the summit of Carl Llidi the slovene genes in me were starting to kick-in again and the unexplainable urge to climb on top of stuff was getting the better of me. As I got about mid way to the top I was met by these small thick and very thorny bushes for which I know somebody somewehere knows the latin name of. In my book they are probably something like Frutex dolens vulgaris (the common painful bush). There were some very narrow paths through this bushy thorniness and as I was scrambling up I surprised a few horses that were grazing below the summit. I tried to ignore them but the relation was not reciprocated. The presence of so many horses explained the huge ammount of poo that I was forced to walk around on my way to the top. The poo tredding and thorny bush evasion was immediately forgotten as I came to the top - the views were just stunning, you could see for miles all around you 360°. I was a bit worried about lightning as there was a storm approaching from the north and as I was standing on the top of the hill I was really sticking-out towards the sky as a sticky thing on a stick on a sticky day. Getting down the hill, however, proved to be even trickier than the trip up as I nearly got blown over by the gale force winds. I took a different route to avoid the above mentioned Frutex dolens vulgaris only to be met by more of the also above mentioned horse poo and your general bog-standard mud. It seemed like you were walking a path and came to a part where it was so muddy you had to take a detour only to find out the detour is covered in sh*t. So the choice was: wet and muddy shoes or dry and crappy shoes. Just as I was approaching the Whitesands car-park I was met by these beautiful scenes of a sunset above the ocean facing east south-east. Sorry for the poor quality as I took it with my Nokia N95 phone cam. Not happy with it, plan on getting an iPhone anyway soon :-) [caption id="attachment_975" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Beautiful sunset above the sea at Whitesands"][/caption] For more photos please visit the gallery HERE.

Ko v Britaniji sneži

Martin McDowell — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 21:20:01 +0000

[caption id="attachment_997" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Puncheston (slikala Lisa Phillips)"][/caption] Veliko hecov se je že razvilo na ta račun in ka nekaj sem jih verjetno začel sam. V večini so kar upravičeni in ravno te dni imam to srečo opazovat v praksi, ko v tej državi, v kateri trenutno živim, popadajo v stanje absolutne panike, ko jim pade bela snov iz nebes. [caption id="attachment_995" align="alignright" width="150" caption="(slikala Lisa Phillips)"][/caption] Kot prvo ne znajo vozit v snegu. Speljevanje iz druge jim je španska vas. Zimskih gum tu seveda nimajo, ker zimske sezone praktično ni. Največji problem pa je pluženje in soljenje. Nisem mogel verjeti, ko so v ponedeljek zvečer kazali cesto, novinarka pa se je čudila, kako to, da je cesta neprevozna, če pa so prek kratkim solili. Očitno še niso slišali, da je treba sneg najprej splužit in šele potem solit. Halo!!! Soljenje jim namreč še kar gre, samo plugov imajo pa bolj malo. To so kolegi iz službe izkusili na lastni koži. Splužene (in soljene) so bile le res glavne ceste in če nimaš te sreče, da živiš ob njej, si ga malodane najebal. Ostalih cest niti ne povohajo. Pa jih ne bi stalo preveč, da bi se nekaj vasi zbralo skupaj in našlo kmeta, ki bi bil pripravljen, v primeru snega, na svoj traktor (ki jih je tu okoli res veliko saj živim v precej ruralnem delu Walesa) prišraufati plug in malo počistiti lokalne ceste. Na ta način se to dela po mnogih vaseh v Sloveniji. Če pa jih je škoda denarja, kot jim ga očitno je, naj pa ne tečnarijo, ko izgubljajo miljarde svojih funtov zaradi izostankov iz služb. Prilagam fotografije, ki jih je posnela kolegica 3. februarja malo pred 12. uro. Vse kar je uspelo voziti po cesti so bili traktorji. [caption id="attachment_996" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Puncheston (slikala Lisa Phillips)"][/caption]

mladoletna_starsa

Martin McDowell — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 07:43:26 +0000

Trinajst-letni fotr

Martin McDowell — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 07:45:43 +0000

Danes zjutraj so na Britanskih TV postajah predvajali video, ki ga je časopisna hiša The Sun posnela z novopečenima otroškima staršema. Britanija je že sicer znana kot prva v številu mladoletnih nosečnic samo ta primer te pa kar malo zmrazi. Oče je sicer star trenutno 13 let, bil pa je 12, ko je spočel otroka s svojo petnajst-letno punco. [caption id="attachment_1002" align="aligncenter" width="492" caption="Foto: The Sun"][/caption] Med intervjujem je voditeljica vprašala, kaj bo delal v s smislu finančne podpore in fant ni vedel, kaj pomeni beseda "finančno" - seveda ne razume, saj je star 13 let!!! Ob takih trenutkih se spomniš, kaj si ti počel v tej starosti in po pravici povem, da se ne spomnim. Vem, da sem hodil v osnovno šolo, mogoče 6 ali 7 razred in se mi je ravno počasi šajnalo, kaj so punce in da mogoče niso samo objekt mojega nagajanja (sorri punce :-)

john_connolly_the_reapers

Martin McDowell — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 17:50:59 +0000

My location LIVE

Martin McDowell — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 18:30:51 +0000

You can get a full-scale tracking site here: http://www.instamapper.com/ext?key=13691219813713354296
I have set my iPhone to refresh my location every 30 minutes once the location application is opened in my iPhone. If it is not open, the phone will not transmit my location!

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Martin McDowell — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:09:58 +0000

Ooops, or how I ripped my container on a Cessna 206, part 3

Martin McDowell — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:22:12 +0000

Ooops no more. I have received my container back this morning via FedEx. The tracking itself proves why it sometimes makes sense to switch your courier service. As I mentioned in my previous post here and here, I chose DHL to send my container to the U.S. It has a good network here in the UK and since I sent it in November there is an even closer service location right here in Haverfordwest's WH Smith shop. But there was a huge delay in the dispatch location in the States delaying the shipment for quite an unreasonable time. FedEx took just 6 days!!! The container was repaired free of charge which is a big plus for Aerodyne even though there seemed to be a manufacturing fault to which they conceded. At least they fixed the problem and sent the container back to me, again, free of charge. But there is a problem which I won't follow-up on. There is a small discrepancy with the logo which was on the flap that had to be replaced.

[caption id="attachment_803" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Before the repair (08-Nov-2008)"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_1052" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="After the repair (03-Mar-2009)"][/caption] The blue colour of the arrow pointing down is not the navy blue colour it was before.

Where's my container? (martinmcdowell.com)
Ooops, or how I ripped my container on a Cessna 206, part 2 (martinmcdowell.com)

Contact me

Martin McDowell — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 11:48:44 +0000

[contact-form 1 "Contact form 1"]

Martin McDowell — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 17:13:03 +0000

You can subscribe to this blog by receiving notification by email when a new one is published.

Ruinair

Martin McDowell — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 16:49:02 +0000

Llawhaden castle and the Eastern Cleddau

Martin McDowell — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 20:38:47 +0000

This was one of the walks from the book I mentioned before. This was walk no. 31. The village of Llawhaden is very easy to find as it is signposted on the A40. The parking is just before the castle. The path soon starts to be quite nice once you leave the broad muddy track and enter the woodland paths. I made a slight variation of the path and used the south path that leads you to the Holgan farm. To return to the rest of the trek described in the book you have to turn left and go up the paved road. Once I came down the valley and passed the Dan-y-Coed farm I heard these shots going off on the other side of the valley. It sounded like a shotgun going off. I later found the probable aftermath of it - some circular clay objects I presumed to be used for shooting practice. Any gun enthusiast please correct me if I am wrong :-) Left the Llawhaden castle for the end of the trip. See the gallery here.

Is the Ryanair website really so bad

Martin McDowell — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 18:50:10 +0000

According to my experience, yes. I tell all Ryanair visitors in advance that this here is my personal opinion and will not allow the publication of rude comments from anyone. I had the misfortune of booking my flight today only to be confronted with an error just at the point you would least like it - after purchase. A while ago I found a blog post about a session problem with the Ryanair website here. OK, some bad responses from some Ryanair employees who basically did not apologize or acknowledge the problem. However here I am today using their website on this computer for the first time and just after confirming my credit card details get the message »Ryanair Session locked«. What does this mean? It did remind me of the problem mentioned on Jason's blog as it involved problems with the sessions on the website transaction system. I did get a confirmation by e-mail but I cannot verify my booking through the Ryanair website. OK, the natural thing would be to ask Ryanair about it. All they have for the UK is a hugely overpriced phone number 0905 566 0000 at £1.00 per minute!!! Why would I pay for Ryanair's mistakes. So that made me a bit ticked off, hence this post. Oh, yes, if Ryanair would like to contact me they can do so after paying me £5.00 for my troubles. And that goes for any possible comments for this post. Related links:

I found the below joke very fitting for this post. I don't know where it originated from but I found it on Vetsugeon.org

Great Treffgarne Mountain

Martin McDowell — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 20:00:22 +0000

This walk seemed the muddiest of them all, in fact I am wandering how exactly to wash my walking shoes and the washing machine is getting to be the favourite. This is the walk no. 32 and can easily be combined with no. 33 (Treffgarne Gorge) as they both start from the same point. That was actually my plan but my walking shoes got filled with lots of lovely mud hindering any furter hikes that day. OK, I admit, am being a bit of a wus, but I was lucky this happened towards the end of the walk. The hike starts from the Nant-y-coy Mill and takes you on the right side of the valley north-westerly. The first part worth seeing is the valley in about mid-way into the hike - around the farm at North Hill. The path after that is a bit different from the one mentioned in the book as the Pembrokeshire County Council approved some modifications to the public path. These were made in September 2008. It now takes you round the farm to the left and then joins the original route at the top of the hill - the Great Treffgarne Mountain. That is the most spectacular part with great views in all directions. There are also these peculiar stones dotted on the top of the hill, each some way from another. After that the path became very unpleasant as one farmer completely ignored the fact there is a path there. It was changed to a mud-bath instead of a field. At one moment, thinking I was stepping onto a reasonably solid mixture of mud and cow poo, I instead stepped into something much more liquid-like making my foot sink way beyond ankle deep. My left foot got completely soaked and my right one didn't fare much better. Grrrrrrrr!!! I thought the farmers were supposed to be more considerate about the public paths - in fact it seemed that in that area the farmers trash the paths to discourage hikers from using them. I was later told they have no such obligations and the paths are of secondary importance to their ownership of the land the path is on. I feel a bit nostalgic for the days in Yugoslavia (Slovenia) where a lot of land was nationalised for the common good. Hmmm, gives me ideas ;-) See the gallery here.

airline_2d00_charge

Martin McDowell — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 20:55:15 +0000

Adijo svoboda

Martin McDowell — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 19:33:11 +0000

Danes (14. marca 2009) se je po TV in časopisju v Veliki Britaniji na dolgo in široko pisalo o najnovejšem načinu, kako bo država opazovala (beri: kontrolirala) še dodaten del našega življenja in sicer potovanje v tujino. Tu seveda Britanci ne bi bili Britanci, če bi se v to smatralo tudi potovanje v druge EU države. Naj spomnim, da Britanija ni nikoli bila in verjetno tudi ne bo nikoli v Šengenu. Nekateri bodo glede slednjega kar zadovoljni. Sistem se imenuje e-borders in, kot sami opisujejo na svoji spletni strani, bo to zelo Orwellovsko pripomoglo k »greater security, effectiveness, and efficiency«. Dejansko gre za podoben monitorski sistem, ki so ga uvedli Američani ESTA. Britanci pa seveda kot pridni kužki morajo sledit bivši koloniji in izdelat podoben sistem. Zbirati nameravajo osebne podatke, kam ste namenjeni (itinerar) in tudi plačilno sredstvo, ki ste ga uporabili za karto ali hotel. Vsaj toliko so vljudni, da sami ne bodo zahtevali teh podatkov od vas temveč so elegantno preložili odgovornost na turistične in letalske družbe, ki morajo pridobiti vse te potrebne informacije. Aja, informacije pa naj ne bi hranili več kot 10 let. Kako zelo lepo od njih. Tako lahko pričakujem, da mi bodo v roku leta ali dveh let sunili identiteto in ukradli denar iz Matercarda - vsaj sodeč po popolni nesposobnosti britanskih državnih organov o varovanju osebnih podatkov. Za podrobnejše informacije uporabite Google.

Finally completed the Rosebush walk

Martin McDowell — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 19:00:47 +0000

[caption id="attachment_1106" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Grim looking Pantmaenog forrest, or what is left of it"][/caption] It actually called Foel Cwmcerwyn and is the walk no. 20 in the book. There hasn't been any proper rain for a couple of weeks so it looked promising. I had to abandon this walk weeks ago due to the fact that one big part of the walk was transformed into quite a substantial stream. None of that this time, the sun was up, no sign of the before mentioned stream. The walk is actually quite a feat, lets just say I wasn't going tapdancing that evening. My Slovene genes were intrigued but will none-the-less live to climb another mountain. Didn't take many photos as it turned a bit foggy once I reached the summit Foel Cwmcerwy. Only one photo in this gallery at the moment and even that looks pretty grim. Nothing to see here so best move along.

A great forest walk in the Pentre Evan nature reserve

Martin McDowell — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 19:00:51 +0000

[caption id="attachment_1123" align="aligncenter" width="459" caption="Pentre Ifan Burial Chamber"][/caption] Nice contrast from the Rosebush walk I took yesterday. This walk is no 40 called Pentre Evan Nature Reserve and I just a great forest walk with some hill climbing thrown in as well. This was also the walk that was the most confusing as the instructions in the book did not help in many parts of the woods. I got badly lost once and had to back-track quite a bit to get to the right path again. Also worth mentioning that that a couple of fields at the end of the walk before you re-enter the woods for the last time have been ploughed and will be very difficult to walk once something grows on it or after a downpour. Again this walk is very appealing, especially if it has been dry for a few days/weeks so there is less mud to deal with. I just wished I had a dog with me. Also I found out to late that the four rock formations at the top of Carnedo Meibion-Owen are off limits as there is some rare lichens growing on them?? I managed to pick the only one formation (the second) that had the warning sign destroyed and climbed on top to have a rest. Hope the relevant people correct the problem and put up the sign.

See the complete gallery here.

llawhaden_castle

Martin McDowell — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 21:40:37 +0000

snowdrops

Martin McDowell — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 21:40:39 +0000

waterfall

Martin McDowell — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 19:25:10 +0000

entrance to the mine

Rhydwilym

Martin McDowell — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 19:26:50 +0000

[caption id="attachment_1102" align="alignleft" width="143" caption="entrance to the mine"][/caption] As the book states this is a walk where you can see lots of nice views and hardly meet anyone. And it was true for me. Only people I met were some farmers on a field, however the fact that I did the walk on a Tuesday afternoon might have had something to do with it. I was especially surprised to see an actual waterfall, not very big but a waterfall nonetheless. A big word of warning, the hike was extended by about 45 minutes just because the local farmers have apparently torn off all the path markings. This makes manoeuvring the field a bit of a gamble. After you get up the very steep field and go through the gate and turn right. Now go to the end of the field to the corner and turn left. There should be a very poorly visible stile. Once crossed continue on the left side of the field to the left corner where there should be a gate leading onto a path which then meets another path. Turn right and you should carry onto into the valley on the zig-zag road mentioned in the book. See the gallery here.

pantmaenog_forrest

Martin McDowell — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 19:30:55 +0000

Nothing to see here, move along

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Martin McDowell — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 20:35:42 +0000

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Martin McDowell — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 20:38:50 +0000

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Martin McDowell — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 13:29:17 +0000

T-Mobile logo

Well done T-Mobile!

Martin McDowell — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 13:35:28 +0000

I don't intend to just mention when companies do bad things. It should also ne noticed when they do some good things as well. I recently bought an iPhone from O2 so I had to switch my mobile operator from T-Mobile to O2. I explained this to T-Mobile and asked them if they could send me the unlock code for my old Nokia N95 I bought through them so I could use it for other networks. And guess what, they did it and not only that, they also did it for free. I was sure they were going to wallop me with a huge bill for it but I was amazed when the person at the T-Mobile call centre offered to do it for free. I am really impressed and wouldn't think twice before returning to them sometime in the future. I managed to unlock my phone last night and use my SiMobil Halo SIM card without any glitches. See T-Mobile, it does pay off to be the nice guy :-)

pentre_evan

Martin McDowell — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 14:02:34 +0000

pentre_ifan_burrial_chamber

Martin McDowell — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 14:02:36 +0000

Pentre Ifan Burial Chamber

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Martin McDowell — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 19:14:16 +0000

pcc_ct_01

Martin McDowell — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 19:14:18 +0000

The Hill of Angels

Martin McDowell — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 17:29:53 +0000

[caption id="attachment_1172" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Looking down towards Cwm mawr"][/caption] What a thoroughly enjoyable way to spend a March Sunday. In fact it was so nice I wish the hike would have lasted a bit longer. Instead I took the opportunity to sit and enjoy the sunshine on the wooden bench by the Sychbant car park were this walk starts and ends. The walk (no. 39: Mynydd Caregog and Carn Ingli) starts off with a nice steep hill and then should continue in a conifer forest. As this has now been cut down the walk continues in something more resembling a wasteland. Conifers are not a native tree in this area and due to the concervationalism of today a more proper forest is being planted. However I haven't seen any signs of the this today. [caption id="attachment_1171" align="alignright" width="150" caption="a Pembrokeshire traffic obstacle"][/caption] Once you leave this so-called forest the view changes into a more familiar Preseli hillside on the Carningli Common. The Carn Edward stone group did not really draw my intention so I skipped it and rather choose the hilltop on my left - Carn Briw - no doubt being, again, a decision influenced by my Slovene origins. If you are walking in the area the ruins of the Carn Ingli fort (the translation of Carn Ingli is the "Hill of angels") is a definite must-see, if not for looking at it, at least by climbing on top of it and enjoying the views. I attempted to bring the view to you but not getting the live experience does give the place its justice. The book then states you should circle the fort on its north side and then find a path towards the hill on the eastern side. This is actually quite tricky but I was either lucky or my navigation experiences proved to be the basis of some good instincts. I though I completely missed those two poles and the tramway that were supposed to be somewhere on the descent. Instead I ended-up right on top of them - spot on! See the complete photo gallery here. The walk then continues towards some farms and ends up in the Cwm gwaun valley. The "second" part of the walk continues on a delightful path on the opposite side of the valley and there was absolutely nobody on it but myself. You will find a stunning forrest scenery, abandoned farms and even an abandoned mill. I would definitely recommend this trek to anyone and the muddiness factor was quite low.

Stonehenge = Made in the Preselis (martinmcdowell.com)
Carn Llidi (martinmcdowell.com)
Finally completed the Rosebush walk (martinmcdowell.com)

council-tax-2009-eng_444kb

Martin McDowell — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 21:43:48 +0000

A six hour Tour de Struble Head

Martin McDowell — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 07:03:07 +0000

This was the longest of the walks in the book and a walk not to be reckoned with. It is long and by the end you just really want to see that lighthouse in the distance. The authors say in the beginning of the walk »Although the longest of the walks in this book, there is nothing difficult about its undertaking« - Yeah right, either they (both authors) came home from this walk and their egos were to big to admit the agonizing pain in their muscles or they had themselves a post-hike LSD trip. However there is apossibility I brought the toughness of this trip on myself as I completely forgot to bring along something to drink ending-up being rather dehydrated by the end of the hike. There are no refreshments to be bought on the way, not even in the part that runs through Goodwick :-( [caption id="attachment_1162" align="alignright" width="150" caption="St. Gwyndaf's church in Llanwnda"][/caption] A word of warning, in the first part of the walk as you leave the coastal path to start-up Garn Fawr it is a bit confusing as to where to turn. Do NOT continue on the paved lane. This will only end in tears - tears due to the realization you have to go back as you have gone the wrong way. There path signs is missing, well, I say missing. I found it hidden in the grass on the ground. I was also quite surprised to find an inscribed stone commemorating the last invasion of Britain - by the French none-the-less in 1897 at Carregwastad Point. What were they doing here, we all know where France is, I presume they shot their navigator. See the excellent gallery here.

[caption id="attachment_1159" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Memorial stone on Carregwastad Point commemorating the landing of the French on 22 February 1797"][/caption]

Kako se v Walesu plačuje davke

Martin McDowell — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 19:42:27 +0000

Naslednji mesec bosta že dve leti, kar sem se preselil v Wales. Prav tako pa letos že drugič plačujem davek, ki bi bil pri nas, v Sloveniji, primerljiv z dohodnino. Imenuje se Council Tax in dejansko gre za denar, ki ga pobere »council«, ki bi bil v Sloveniji nekakšna kopija občine, torej gre za obliko občinskega davka. Dohodnina v Sloveniji naj bi primarno šla v namene lokalne uprave in skupnosti, vendar pa ima taco čez še vedno DURS. V Veliki Britaniji in tako tudi v Walesu je precej drugače. Za pobiranje dohodnine (council tax-a) skrbi občina (council), ki je v mojem konkretnem primeru Pembrokeshire County Council. Seveda nisem nič kaj posebej vesel, da moral plačevati davek, pa čeprav mi ga ni treba v večini primerov (na primer hrana v Veliki Britaniji nima DDV-ja in je popolnoma neobdavčena), vendar mi je precej všeč, kako transparentni so pri vsem tem. Seveda je tu kar nekaj zgodovine in prerekanj glede formulacije tega davka, so pa na koncu vso stvar izpilili do te mere, da je lahko človek kar precej prepričan, kam gre tvoj denar. Tu se sploh noben ne sekira glede tega davka, če seveda odmislite moje nerganje v prejšnjem odstavku ;-) Vsako leto ti pošljejo račun, na katerem je navedeno, koliko moraš plačati v naslednjem davčem letu. Potem pa ti navedejo, kako so prišli do te cene. Glede na ceno nepremičnine v kateri živiš, ti določijo skupino od A do I, s tem da je cena pri A letos 443,56 funtov in cena za I 1.552,46 funtov. Če se ti zdi, da ti hiše/stanovanja niso prav ocenili se lahko pritožiš. Kot drugo ti povejo ceno za policijo - ja prav ste prebrali, letos moram za policijo plačati okoli 115 funtov. Kaj bolj pregledno ne more biti in mislim, da se to precej pozna tudi v delovanju policije, saj je zelo razločno, da ne dobivajo denar iz neke črne brezoblične proračunske luknje temveč neposredno iz tvoje denarnice. In temu primerno se tudi vedejo. So policija v službi prebivalstva. Ko sem se preselil v stanovanje, v katerem trenutno živim, sem bil zelo presenečen, kako so sploh izvedeli, da sem prebivalec občine Pembrokeshire in da mi morajo zakasirat dohodnino. Nikomur uradno nisem povedal, da živim tu a so me vseeno izvohali. V Sloveniji imaš uradno prebivališče in osebno izkaznico, tu ne. OK, nič hudega, ali ne obstaja neko rek, ki pravi da se smrti in davkom ne moreš izognit. Da bi bile zadeve še bolj jasne pošljejo v času pred pričetkom novega davčnega leta pošljejo finančno poročilo (napoved) za davčno leto, ki prihaja. Če koga zanima si lahko ogleda dokument tu.

Blackpool Mill and the Old Slebech Church

Martin McDowell — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 17:49:01 +0000

This one the walk no 27 taken from the book and is a bit of a deviation from the books theme - it being that there are 41 circular walks in Pembrokeshire. Well this walk is still in Pembrokeshire but it is not at all circular. However the authors can be forgiven for this as it is a very nice easy walk with some nice views, especially at the main Slebech estate (see their website for more details. If you are a birdwatcher then this walk should definitely not be missed. In quite a few places along the road you can reach the Eastern Cleddau and gaze upon the views of the river and the bird population that occupy it. See the complete photo gallery here. There is also quite a bit of history related to the Slebech estate and the church. It dates from the 12th century A.D. when the grounds were owned by the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem who "have their roots" in the first crusade. Cool. [caption id="attachment_1179" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="I just love this photo, I think it is good enough to be framed :-)"][/caption]

The difference is in the Angle

Martin McDowell — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 07:48:02 +0000

I am convinced you everyone will see the huge difference in the views you see on the north side of the peninsula, compared to the south - while on the north side you see the beautiful town of Angle, but then as you move further along you are met with the view of all the petroleum and gas industries in the area with their huge piers and tall chimneys. And as you continue to the south part of the peninsula all that you can see is the vast ocean.

[caption id="attachment_1187" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="The Chevron oil refinery"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_1186" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="A small guard fort, probably from Napoleonic times. St. Ann's head in the distance on the right"][/caption]

The walk started on a very sunny day with hardly a cloud in the sky. As it was Easter Sunday I was better off arriving early as the crowds of tourists were soon to follow. Luckily only the beach parking area and Freshwater West beach were busy, the rest of the path not so much as people opted not move more than 500 metres from their cars. [caption id="attachment_1188" align="alignleft" width="224" caption="The tower house in Angle"][/caption] OK, so I don't forget to mention this. It is about a reference in the hiking book to a "leafy lane" - word of warning - the trees above are covered with nests and you would probably want to avoid the poo projectiles coming from the heavens. I also advise changing the path a little bit in the town of Angle by continuing pass the church on the right and turning right on a path through the playground, which, on the other side, continues towards an old guard tower. As you continue on the coastal path you get the opportunity to have good look of the new LNG South Hook gas terminal - it recently had its first shipment of gas from Qatar and I heard the tanker that was docked in front of the terminal was spectacular. The more exhausting part of the route is from West Angle beach to Freshwater West, there are many valleys to climb down and just as many to climb up from. A good idea is to pace yourself, especially on the ascent. Have a look at the photo gallery but the photos, as usual, do not do the »live« views justice.

Liquid gas tanker docks amid safety fears (guardian.co.uk)

strumble_head_lighthouse

Martin McDowell — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 07:30:33 +0000

The Strumble Head lighthouse, the Rosslare - Fishguard ferry in the far distance

carregwastad_point

Martin McDowell — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 07:30:35 +0000

Memorial stone on Carregwastad Point commemorating the landing of the French on 22 February 1797

p4040023_smaller

Martin McDowell — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 07:36:16 +0000

St. Gwyndaf's church in Llanwnda

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Martin McDowell — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 17:33:11 +0000

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

some_sheep

Martin McDowell — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 17:33:14 +0000

Pembrokeshire traffic obstacle

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Martin McDowell — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 17:33:16 +0000

Looking down towards Cwm mawr

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Martin McDowell — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 18:01:49 +0000

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Martin McDowell — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 18:01:52 +0000

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Martin McDowell — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 18:01:56 +0000

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Martin McDowell — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 18:01:59 +0000

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Martin McDowell — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 07:55:12 +0000

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Martin McDowell — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 07:55:14 +0000

The Chevron oil refinery

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Martin McDowell — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 08:01:56 +0000

The tower house in Angle

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Martin McDowell — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 19:49:01 +0000

Freshwater West meets Harry Potter and Robin Hood

Martin McDowell — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 19:59:14 +0000

[caption id="attachment_1193" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Freshwater West beach in Pembrokeshire"][/caption] Of course not literally, but it was published today in the local newspaper that the Freshwater West (the location of one of my recent trecks: The difference is in the Angle) will be used as a filming location for the upcoming movies Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and Ridley Scott's Robin Hood remake. The debate is now mostly concerning whether the beach will still be opened to the public and when the road will be closed during the filming in May and June 2009. The biggest problem I see is that there isn't much parking available close to the beach anyway so I suppose that is why they will shut the road off. See the gallery from the hike here and here are some photos taken of the beach...

Beach assurance over Potter film (BBC)

Harry Potter heads for the beach (news.bbc.co.uk)
First Image of Harry from 'Deathly Hallows'! (cinematical.com)
Check out Shell Cottage! (gryffindorgazette.com)
Sir Ridley's call for extras to fight Robin Hood's band of merry men (news.bbc.co.uk)

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Martin McDowell — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 07:05:22 +0000

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Martin McDowell — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 07:05:23 +0000

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Martin McDowell — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 07:05:25 +0000

ukip_poster

Martin McDowell — Sat, 16 May 2009 17:58:37 +0000

UKIP 2009 EU elections poster

090501swinefluen

Martin McDowell — Sat, 16 May 2009 19:24:33 +0000

Avdicija za Robina Hooda v Pembroke Docku

Martin McDowell — Sun, 17 May 2009 08:11:50 +0000

Drugo soboto v maju so imeli v neki dvorani v Pembroke Dock-u (od tu kakšnih 15 min stran) avdicijo za statiste, ki naj bi igrali v junijskemu snemanju filma na lokaciji, kjer prav zdaj poteka snemanje za nekaj prizorov Harrya Potterja. Mest je bilo samo za nekaj sto, pred dvorano pa se jih je zbralo čez tisoč. Nekateri so bili doma nekaj hiš stran, drugi spet pa so se peljali več ur na avdicijo. Za kako sekundo ali dve je tudi mene zamikalo, bolj kot ne iz firbca, samo bi si težko vzel dopust v tako kratkem času. Si bom pač moral ogledat film v kinu, tako kot mnogi drugi.

home_alone_and_uk_nationalism

Martin McDowell — Sun, 17 May 2009 11:07:35 +0000

Nationalism in the UK

Britanci se ne grejo Evrope

Martin McDowell — Sun, 17 May 2009 11:09:23 +0000

[caption id="attachment_1214" align="alignright" width="211" caption="UKIP 2009 EU elections poster"][/caption] Vsi se približno spomnimo, kdaj se je začela zadeva s prašičjo gripo. V Britaniji so na veliko govorili, da bo vsako gospodinjstvo na dom dobilo zloženko z informacijami o tej bolezni in kako se lahko zaščitimo pred njo. Pa sem končno dobil to zloženko, in to v petek 15. maja - ravno pravi čas, ko je skoraj že vsega konec. Ne morem predvideti, da se ne bo bolezen pojavila naslednjo jesen ampak prav gotovo ne mislim imeti te papiranate navlake v dnevni sobi. Že včeraj sem jo vložil v fascikel okroglaste oblike. Na zadevo bi verjetno lepo pozabil in se ne bi niti ne matral o tem pisati na tem spletnem dnevniku, samo zmotili so me predvolilni oglasi, ki so prišli skupaj s prašičjo gripo (sory, zloženko o njej). Ne samo da so prišli zraven, celo vtaknjeni so bili vanjo. Oprosti poštar, če si to storil po nesreči. Zanimiva se mi je zdela vsebina in pristranskost teh predvolilnih oglasov. Upam, da bomo pred EU volitvami, ki bodo 4. junija, dobili še kako predvolilno reklamo kajti ti dve sta bili od precej hudih nacionalistov. Prva je bilo od BNP (British National Party), druga pa od UKIP (UK Independence Party). Ko sem malo pregledal vsebino me je kar malo zatiščalo - nisem bil prepričan ali na defekacijo ali na bruhanje, vsekakor pa mi je bilo jasno, da s tekimi vsebinami ne samo, da Britanije ne bo nikoli sprejela evra, ampak, da se zna zgodit, da bo celo izstopila iz Evropske Unije. Dodatna težava se pojavlja z afero glede parlamentarcev in obiranja državnega proračuna na račun stroškov, ki naj bi jih imeli z opravljanjem svojih parlamentarnih dolžnosti. Ljudem so se parlamentarci in parlamentarne stranke tako zamerile, da analitiki predvidevajo precej višjo podporo prav marginalnim strankam, kot sta BNP in UKIP. Med stranke, ki bi pridobile na številu glasov naj bi bile tudi stranke zelenih. Naj še malo opišem te oglase, ki sem jih dobil. Na UKIP brošuri je slika Winstona Churchilla, ki s prsti dvignjene roke kaže znak "V" za victory - zmago, spodaj pa poziva k volitvi za UKIP stranko ter navede zakaj: Recite NE neomejenemu priseljevanju, recite NE dnevnemu EU računu v višini £40 milijonov, recite NE EU kontroli vaših življenj. Ja madona, saj bi še Bruselj ratal proti-evropski, če bi jim tole pošiljal po domovih. BNP-jeva brošura pa tudi ni kaj boljša. Na sliki je srečna britanska družina s besedilom spodaj: britanske delovna mesta za britanske delavce - ker si to zaslužimo! Seveda zraven navedejo še parole proti EU nadzoru in evru in blablabla. Da te srat prime. - aja, sem rekel, da me bo na bruhanje. Pardon ;-) Me sicer na dan volitev ni doma, ker bom na veterinarski delavnici iz abdominalnega ultrazvoka v Gloucestershire-u, se bom pa probal nalimat na volišče. Tu jih imajo odprte do desete ure zvečer!

24ur_hrvaska

Martin McDowell — Mon, 25 May 2009 13:50:29 +0000

Vedno znova čudovita Hrvaška?

Martin McDowell — Mon, 25 May 2009 13:52:59 +0000

Tole verjetno na 24ur.com spletni strani niso planirali, je pa prav zabavno brat vsebino članka, zgoraj pa v bannerju reklama za Hrvaško. Priceless :-)

robin_hood_filmset

Martin McDowell — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 06:53:59 +0000

Second location at the south Freshwater West carpark

Robin Hood filmset all ready at Freshwater West

Martin McDowell — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 06:55:52 +0000

[caption id="attachment_1244" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Second location at the south Freshwater West carpark"][/caption] Had the opportunity to have a walk from Angle to the Freshwater West beach and it looks the production team has a lot of logistics to deal with. They seem to have chosen two locations to pitch-up marquees, one is just of the turn from the road to Angle on B4320 and B4319. The second, you could say the main, location is right next to the beach at the southern carpark. [umap id="34373" size="sq" alignment="right"]The first one looks like its going to house animals, I presume horses. Actually I am surprised there is nobody already writing about this who is already involved with the production. Perhaps they have a confidentiality clause ;-) Well I don't :-)) Just a warning to anyone who would want to have a look at the filming location. The B4319 road will be closed next week from June 15th to June 30th.

Freshwater West meets Harry Potter and Robin Hood (martinmcdowell.com)

snowdon_01

Martin McDowell — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 09:39:03 +0000

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Martin McDowell — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 09:39:12 +0000

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Martin McDowell — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 09:39:15 +0000

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Martin McDowell — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 09:39:18 +0000

Trekking the hills of Snowdon

Martin McDowell — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 09:56:12 +0000

Ever since I moved to Wales 2 years ago I had a quiet wish to climb the highest peak in this country - Snowdon. Last weekend was showing to be a perfect opportunity to fulfil that wish. I was working only till 12 pm and the forecast was for sunshine and high temperatures stretching way into the following week. Getting some good literature, so you know what your are doing, is very advisable. [caption id="attachment_1250" align="alignright" width="235" caption="View from Garnedd Ugain: to the right is Snowdon and to the left is Y Lliwedd with its three peaks ) from left Lliwedd Bach, East peak and West peak. Any similarities with Triglav are strictly coincidental :-)"][/caption] If you are based in southwest Wales it is a good idea to head up there on the day before you are climbing as the road trip takes you over three hours. There are no motorways or even dual carriageways between the south and north parts of Wales! Instead of going for a more expensive option of a hotel or B&B (the decision to go to Snowdon was make pretty late and the hotel accommodations were either not available or very pricey) I opted for a campsite. The last camping I did was for a skydiving tournament that was held in my "home" DZ in Prečna near Novo mesto a few years back and I was a bit worried I might forget to bring along something essential. Hold that thought. See the full photo gallery here. There was a slight snag with camping in this part of Wales. I looked at the weather forecast and the low day temperatures were very, very close to freezing - and I mean 0° or 1°C. This was the forecast for Llanberris. So instead I went for campsites a bit closer to the sea and, of course, the warmth. I found one close to the town of Penrhyndeudraeth called Barcdy. Would recomend it, but it is a bit more pricey then others: it cost £10/person/night for a tent - other campsites were around £6 or £7. The additional problem you might have to contend with is kids - there was a family that came to the camp after me and they put up their tent right next to mine and, you guessed it, had a bunch of very noisy kids with them. Don't seem to be a big fan of them, but would maybe feel different, if they were mine - and I stress - MAYBE ;-). Coming back to the issue of forgetting things - by some strange reason I forgot to take my sleeping bag with me - when I returned home on Sunday it was there, sitting on the floor in my bedroom, waiting to be taken along. I put all my camping stuff on one big pile to pack in the car and somehow I missed it. Thank god for sat-navs and Tesco Extra. I found one in Bangor that was open 24/7 and had a good selection of camping gear. The other unpleasant thing that happened was my car. At about 2 or 3 am it decided it is being attacked or stolen and the alarm went off. Now usually I wouldn't be that upset about it but it was parked just outside the tent about 2 m away from my head with not much soundproofing in-between (if you can consider a tent wall soundproofing, that is). [umap id="34149" size="t" alignment="left"]The following morning I set of quite early and arrived at the Pen-y-pass car park at about 7am as the parking spaces were just running out. Some trekkers were already returning from the summit! Come to think of it, it might have to do with the parking as there were no parking attendants at that time in the morning. Just a word of warning - bring enough change. The parking is a pay-and-display and it is quite expensive, especially if you are staying longer than 3 or 4 hours as the parking is about £6 and the machine does not take notes. At that time in the morning there is nowhere to get change so you have to bring enough along. I, of course, did not have enough but an angel appeared in a form of another climber who saw my predicament and just gave me the missing three pounds in coins - just like that. I couldn't believe what happened, I was in shock. I quickly realized I did have a £5 note and I ran after him and caught him on the parking lot just before he set off to the summit, gave him the £5 note and thanked him for about the fifth or sixth time. Really, why should he be out of pocket, I did had the money but just not in coins. See, there are still some nice people going around who will help you when you need it. I don't know his name but I am sure his good deeds will be rewarded sooner or later. The trek itself started off on a reasonable steep incline, with the morning sun warming my shoulders. I started on the Pyg track and then turned right on top of the pass to continue on the Crib Goch path. Now I would not recommend this route for beginners or young children - it can be very tricky. The majority of the track runs along the Crib Goch ridge and in some places is only about a metre wide with sheer cliffs on either side. Then you also have to contend with the wind trying to blast you off the cliff. If you have fear of hights then give this route a miss. You also might freeze on that ridge from fear and getting you down could prove to be very tricky. The route is also not recommended as a descend from Snowdon. I was surprised how much climbing was actually involved, much more than I was used to in mountains in Slovenia. This took a toll on my legs and I had to stop a few times, even on the descent, to relive the cramps in my upper legs. There were not many climbers on the Crib Goch path but once you reach the 3m marker stone you joined the rest of climbers from the Pyg and Miners track and there were loads of them on that beautiful day. On this weekend it was like downtown Haverfordwest - full of people. The remainder is a short walk up to the summit walking by the Snowdon railtrack. [caption id="attachment_1249" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The Snowdon Mountain Railway goes right to the top of the Snowdon summit edit Delete caption"][/caption] The descent on the Miners Track was a bit tedious and still quite stressful on the legs - it is almost completely covered by rock slabs and that does not make a very comfortable walking surface. In other places you have smaller stones and there you have to watch you dont sprain an ancle. There are some nice views of the lakes (see photo gallery) and the end part of the track is very easy - like a walk in a park :-) At the time of my trek on May 30th the top railway station was closed for renovations and there were no refreshments or toilets available. I was surprised not to see a local entrepreneur selling us drinks and snacks - I remember seeing someone at the top of Triglav and there definitely weren't as many people on that summit as there were on Snowdon. [caption id="attachment_1251" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Glaslyn lake"][/caption]

Ryanair redeemed by giving refund

Martin McDowell — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:32:56 +0000

Just as I thought I was loosing yet another battle with a faceless corporation filled with robot drones I received some good news the other week. The [intlink id="1067" type="post"]dispute I had with Ryanair[/intlink] about a problem with purchasing tickets from their website.Their website crashed and I was left unsure whether I actually purchased the ticket as I could not confirm the reservation through the Ryanair website using my payment details. After trying contacting Ryanair through various e-mails that apparently don't work I tried writing to Ryanair's corporate head office in Dublin, Ireland. No luck. I then also tried cancelling my payment trough my credit card company. In the end Ryanair seemed to have corrected the problem as they produced the credit company proof of my purchase and voilà - I could confirm the ticket on the website. However this was all to late as time was running out and I was forced to make alternative arrangements. My holiday was in August and I was in danger of not being able to travel at all! Recently they seem to have updated the information on their website on how to file complaints. I wrote to the address stating the problem. Not expecting anything to happen and was preparing to accept that I just lost about £90 I was very surprised to receive an email from Ryanair:

Dear Mr McDowell, Following your recent refund request for booking confirmation number [censored]. We confirm that your refund request has been processed back to the form of payment used to pay for your booking. Your issuing bank will take 5-7 working days to process this refund amount back to your account. The amount refunded to your credit/debit card is GBP 89.40 Yours sincerely Ryanair Customer Services

This still does make me completely happy. How come a customer does not have implicit rights to cancel his/her order in this case. Consumers should be better protected as it cannot be left to corporations big or small to make their mind up about it by themselves. The market apparently isn't competitive enough or developed enough so that we can trust corporations to do the right thing. I would suggest this would be better off as a pan-EU legislation rather than leaving it to each individual EU member. Customers are usually allowed to cancel their order without explanation as long as its not something that is made specifically for the user and/or it cannot be resold to another customer. This is clearly not the case with airline tickets as they can be resold very quickly (usually for an even higher price as these tend to be higher the closer you are to the departure date). I really feel strongly about this as we are often, as consumers, left to the mercy of companies who can quite strongly defend their own interests - but often we either can't defend ourselves our cannot afford it. I have been strongly tempted to get in touch with the local M.P. (member of parliament) who, in my case, is Mr. Stephen Crabb (cons).

Is the Ryainair website really so bad (martinmcdowell.com)

The Pure Chronos iDock

Martin McDowell — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 10:36:35 +0000

Chronos iDock DAB/FM Stereo Clock Radio with Dock for iPod

Tinnitus

Martin McDowell — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 11:25:25 +0000

soundmaskerdel

Martin McDowell — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 12:08:51 +0000

Buccastem (proclorperazine)

Martin McDowell — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 12:31:02 +0000

tinnitus

Martin McDowell — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 12:45:30 +0000

Fighting tinnitus and the Ménière syndrome

Martin McDowell — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 13:29:00 +0000

Defined by the British tinnitus association as a ringing, whistling, buzzing and humming in the ears and/or head without any external source it has been a bit of an ailment for me for over a year now. It all started a few years back when I started to get presumably viral related Ménière syndrome attacks. They appeared about once or twice a year and got worse towards the end - the last one "flattened" me for about 12h with a few days recovery after that. Ménière syndrome are more or less severe attacks of vertigo, severe tinnitus, nausea with no hearing loss. There are probably more definitions around so please bare with me. The ones I described are the most obvious. Auris Medical made a sound that tries to reproduce what tinnitus sounds like on top of music: tinnitus After the last attack I had in April 2008 I was left with persistent undulating tinnitus. It wasn't as severe as during the Ménière's attack but it was very unsettling. After a few weeks it was still there and it slowly got me worrying. Whent to see my GP who referred me to a ENT (Ear nose and throat) specialist in Carmarthen. Since then I have been there for a few visits and also had a CT scan a couple MRI scans and various tests performed on me, much to my frustration at times. I was told that the tinnitus is not going to be permanent and that it is due, in my case, to fluid build-up in the inner ear, however this was more of a presumption than a definitive diagnosis.The best thing I was advised to do was to get used to the sound (while I have it) and to not get frustrated or depressed by it. The times, when you usually hear it the mos,t is in the evening and morning. This also includes during the night if you happen to wake up. At the beginning the tinnitus was so bad that I was waking up just from it. Going back to sleep after that was quite a job. The resulting insomnia can cause much more severe problems and I hope they weren't that bad with me. I was told to visit the RNID website to get more information on how to help myself. The best way is to listen to sounds that are similar to the tinnitus sound in frequency with the aim to "drown out" the tinnitus sound. It is also important not to put the therapeutic music on to loud so it is distracting in itself and also not to quiet as to not have any affect at all. There are various "pillow" speakers available to buy but I wanted something a bit more practical. I already had all my CD collection in digital form and loaded up on my 160 GB iPod Classic. So I found it impractical to start buying special players with special speakers for this purpose. I wanted to buy something I could use for other purposes, for example to wake me up in the morning. I also wanted something that would turn itself off after x number of minutes so the sound playing won't be going on all through the night. [caption id="attachment_1276" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Chronos iDock by Pure"][/caption] I found a very good solution in the form of a product called Chronos iDock from a company called Pure. Pure is a British company that makes cutting edge audio equipment. The Chronos iDock is a FM and DAB radio with an iPod docking ability on the top of the box. It also has a sleep button that shuts down the device after 15, 30, 45, 60 or 90 minutes. The DAB system proved to be a special blessing as there was a radio station that was test transmitting some great Birdsong natural sounds. Unfortunately this test transmission stopped on June 1st 2009. The service bacame so popular it has sprung-up this website with the ability to purchase the song online. However the version of the song on the website is not the same as the one that was transmitted on that DAB channel. This brings me to the songs themselves. I would advise to stay away from iTunes's DRM afflicted music downloads and go for Amazon's MP3 website mp3.amazon.co.uk. Unfortunately this is not available to other countries - the last time I heard it was only available in the UK :-( In any case I would suggest sounds that are purely natural and are not "contaminated" with human music and/or talking. Beware and try-before-you-buy as you might find yourself buying something you don't like. Amazon's MP3 store has an excellent preview (or should I say pre-listen) feature. The RNID website suggested a few stress relieving CDs like Pure Calm, but I found them unsuitable for my problem. There is an alternative to the above suggestion if you don't want to buy this equipment and you do have an analogue radio at home. Turn the volume down to a low level and tune the radio FM receiver to a frequency with no detectable radio stations. you should hear just the familiar buzzing sound. That's it! I, however, have not tried this myself as I don't have an old radio like that at home anymore. Worth a try though.

Software

There a bit of useful software available to help you combat tinnitus called Tinnitus Masker Pro. This app by Vectormedia software will allow you to mix and match different pre-installed sound like the sound of rain, white noise, fire and so on, to create your own. You can also modify the volume, frequency and left/right balance. There is also a feature to record your own sounds. There is a Standard and and a Deluxe version available.

Hyperacusis

Don't forget there are many reasons why tinnitus occurs. In my case it is constant but gets worse in certain circumstances. As side effect of it I will also experience hyperacusis - where I will find certain sounds extremely irritating - and I mean irritating enough that I have to leave the area straight away. I remmeber once going to a busy restaurant not long after having a Ménière attack and I found the surround noice from people talking so irritating I had to leave the place immediately. If you are in that sort of situation the best thing is to just remove yourself and go somewhere quiet. Sometimes ear plugs with help but it won't make the tinnitus quiter - remember, it is originating from within you and is not from an external source.

Treatment

There is currently no effective treatment for it. There is some pretty invasive surgery that as far as I know in certain cases can result in permanent deafness. There is some research ongoing but with no imminent drugs on the market. Read the related articles at the end of the post from BBC News. I have done some research and there was some talk about the benefits of herb Gingko Biloba. Also some discussion over caffeine was made but I read that in some cases caffeine made the tinnitus worse and in other cases, better. Just try it out for yourself. In my situation stress, flu and viral diseases (decreased immunity) made the tinnitus worse so keeping in general good health is a great idea. However twice before I had the Ménière attack I actually did some exercise but that could just as well be due to the exercise triggering a flu-like disease concentrating on my inner ear. I have since done lots of exercise in form of [intlink id="1229" type="post"]hill climbing[/intlink], trekking and skydiving with absolutely no problems in the aftermath. My GP gave me some buccal tablets containing prochlorperazine - to be more precise these were not specifically for the tinnitus but to prevent a possible Ménière attack. Not sure if they are of any use. They are supposed to prevent and eliviate nausea and vertigo. I would also suggest joining the British Tinnitus Association. The annual membership is currently £15 for the UK and £20 for other countries. You get lots of useful information and some insight on research into tinnitus.

Living with tinnitus

As described earlier you should avoid areas where you expect to feel uncomfortable. If you experience hyperacusis in crowded areas then best to avoid them or use ear plugs you can get from your local pharmacy. Listening to music in general should be OK, avoid loud sounds and loud music, especially if listening on headphones as this, in itself, can cause hearing loss and tinnitus. I play the acoustic guitar myself and have no problems with the vibartions or the frequency. It was also fine once I switched to an electric guitar. That is all. Keep well.

Tinnitus cure 'is a step closer' (news.bbc.co.uk)
New hope for tinnitus sufferers (news.bbc.co.uk)
Many fail to recognise tinnitus (news.bbc.co.uk)

Robin Hood filmset @ Freshwater West on June 23rd

Martin McDowell — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 18:04:46 +0000

Here are some photos taken from the beach. They were filming some sort of fight scenes on the beach itself. The whole beach was off limits and only the coastal path was open to the public. If you are tempted to have a look at the filmset you can approach it on the Angle road - there is a temporary public carpark on a field on the left just after the turning for B4319. See the full photo gallery here

P6230013

Martin McDowell — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 18:53:20 +0000

sdc

Martin McDowell — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 15:44:46 +0000

Shell Drivers' Club

tcc

Martin McDowell — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 15:44:47 +0000

Tesco clubcard

Collecting airmiles: Tesco or Shell

Martin McDowell — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 15:49:47 +0000

Now I was not brilliant in maths but I am still hoping my calculations are at least approximately correct. Shell is the most simple to calculate so lets start with them. I tried to calculate how many litres of diesel I had to use to get 100 airmiles. I used the Petrolprices.com website for my postcode: http://www.petrolprices.com/search.html?search=sa62

Shell Driver's Club

Price here is irrelevant though as they give you 1 airmile for 20 litres. The website does not specify for which kind of fuels so I presume it is irrelevant. That makes: 2000 litres of diesel for 100 airmiles

Tesco Clubcard

Its more complicated here. A litre of diesel is 1.029 pounds which will give you 1 clubcard point. Usually I will fill up my tank which is 60 litres -> about 62 points. 100 points give you 1 voucher pound so mathematically that would be 0.62 voucher points for 60 litres. That is 0.0103 voucher points per litre of diesel or 96.77 litres of diesel/1 voucher point. Now, Airmiles give you 60 airmiles for 2.50 voucher points, so that is 4.17 voucher points for 100 airmiles. As 96.77 litres come to 1 voucher point, 4.17 voucher points (for 100 airmiles) come to 403.22 litres of diesel. So about 400 litres of diesel for 100 airmiles

Conclusion

That makes Tesco's savings scheme 5 times more economical. I do understand that some numbers are rounded and the calculation is not linear but it does show the huge difference in the schemes for airmiles. Also you get more airmiles with diesel and/or higher prices with Tesco than you do with Shell. If the prices would go down you would relatively do better with a scheme per litre of fuel than per pence spent, but the absolute difference is still very much in favour of Tesco Clubcard. Not to mention that you get more points with Tesco as you get them by buying anything at the shop, not just the fuel. And y the way, I am not affiliated with any company mentioned here but I have used all. If my calculations are incorrect please inform me through my [intlink id="1056" type="page"]contact form[/intlink].

shell_tesco

Martin McDowell — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 18:45:43 +0000

Shell / Tesco

P6230029

Martin McDowell — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 19:23:14 +0000

The helicopter rested on one of the hilltops above the beach between filming. You can see how misty everything got at certain points.

P6230015

Martin McDowell — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 19:24:17 +0000

P6230017

Martin McDowell — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 19:25:08 +0000

View towards the south. You can see a tractor combing the sand next to the wood stacks

Snemanje Robina Hooda - od daleč

Martin McDowell — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 19:30:44 +0000

V mesecu juniju 2009 so pričeli nedaleč od tod s snemanjem naslednje filmske upodobitve princa tatov - Robina Hooda. Lokacija, kjer poteka snemanje, se imenuje Freshwater West in gre za eno lepših plaž v Pembrokeshire-ju in Wales-u nasploh. Tu so pejšnji mesec celo snemali naslednji film o Harryu Potterju. Produkcija za Robina Hooda pa je precej večja in vključuje veliko več ljudi in opreme. Pred tedni so imeli v bližnji dvorani avdicijo za statiste in prijaviti se jih je hotelo veliko več, kolikor je bilo mest na voljo.

Ogled galerije.

Ker je produkcija tega filma tako velika, so uspeli pri občini (izraz občina upoorabljam kot nadomestilo za county council, v tem konkretnem primeru Pembrokeshire County Council) dobiti dovoljenje za dvotedensko zaprtje lokalne ceste, ki poteka mimo plaže, kjer se bo snemalo največ prizorov. Očitno prihaja do manjših zamud, saj so morali zaprositi za podaljšanje tega dovoljenja za nekaj dni. Sam sem bil priča snemanju prejšnji torek. Čeprav so govorili, da bo plaža odprta za javnost, to skoraj ni bilo mogoče realizirati, saj je med snemanjem tam ogromno opreme in statistov, tako da do plaže sploh nisi mogel, je bila pa odprta pot ob plaži in ima tudi posebno ime - Pembrokeshire coastal path. Na njej je bilo kar nekaj opazovalcev in fotografov, ki so opazovali dogajanje med snemanjem. Očitno so se pripravljali na snemanje spopadom med nekakšno srednjeveško pehoto s sulicami in konjenico. Stal sem ravno nad severnim delom plaže, kjer so ravno takrat počivali konji z jezdeci. Na sliki se prav dobro vidi, da so precej izmučeni in da se jim kaj dosti ne da. Ko jih je šef začel klicati naj grejo na konje, jih je moral včkrat nadreti naj že spravijo riti na sedla in odsmrdijo do snemališča. Sredi zaliva pred Freshwater West plažo je bilo kar nekaj plovil, nekateri v stilu robinhoodovskih časov (baje) in nekateri malo bolj današnji. No, iz enega iz slednje skupine se je vsake toliko časa izpustil gost oblak dima - verjetno je šlo za posebno meglo, ki jo uporabljajo za snemanje. Ta megla se je najprej razprostrla preko zaliva in potem še naprej na celino in prav čudno je smrdela. Tik pred snemanjem se je potem pojavil še helikopter za katerega sem najprej sumil, da je pripeljal glavne zvezde - najverjetneje pa je bil uporabljen samo za snemanje - na nosu je imel namreč namontirano ogromno okroglo belo ohišje s kamero v njej. Ko snemanja ni bilo, je šel začasno "parkirat" na bližnji hrib. Takoj, ko se je snemanje nadaljevalo, je zopet zaštartal motorje in nadaljeval delo. Meni je bilo vse skupaj precej zanimivo, ker še nikoli nisem bil na prizorišču snemanja filma, kaj šele za snemanje tako velikega holivudskega filma. Bi bilo kar kul, če bi me spustili na plažo, da bi si zadevo bolje ogledal in kaj poslikal - avtogram Russel-a Crowe-a me namreč niti malo ne interesira. Na trenutke je bilo dogajanje na plaži kar gledljivo, prav kamlu pa se mi je začelo dolgočasit. Prav hecno pa je bilo gledati eno prvih vaj pri spopadu prej omenjene pehote in konjenice. Ko se je režiser zadrl "Action" in ko so planili eni proti drugim, se je režiser kmalu zadrl "Cut". Statisti so bili očitno toliko zagreti ali pa so začasno oglušeli, da so nadaljevali z bitko, tako da se je moral režiser še večkrat zadreti Rez ... rez, da so končno prenehali s klofanjem. Fotograf, ki je spremljaj dogajanje mi je povedal, da gre za igralce rugbija, ki so bili precej zagreti za dober "fajt". Na koncu sem si še mimogrede ogledal prizorišče snemanja, ki naj bi še prišlo na vrsto - ob plaži, nad plitvimi pečinami, so postavili nekakšne manjše enostavne koče. Na dan pa že curljajo novice iz samega snemanja. Čisto slučajno se je kolegičina mama uspela slikati z glavnim igralcem Russelom Crowom. Sem pa iz zanesljivih virov izvedel, da je nek statist, ki je bil zaposlen kot veslač v filmu, stopil do Russel-a in ga poprosil za fotografiranje ali avtogram. Russel mu je obljubil, da ni problema in se lahko zmenita, ko pride nazaj. No, nazaj je prišel le nek asistent , ki je tipu (veslaču) zabičal, naj ne nadleguje glavnega igralca in naj se pod nosom obriše za fotografijo in avtogram. Pijar, da mu ni para. [caption id="attachment_1322" align="alignright" width="224" caption="View towards the south. You can see a tractor "combing" the sand next to the wood stacks"][/caption] Slišal sem tudi za novico, da se je pri snemanju prevrnila barka na kateri so bili konji z jezdeci. Kar nekaj jih je bilo pripeljano v lokalno urgenco. Konjem, po poročilih, ni bilo nič hudega. So pa imeli še eno težavo, ko so spet druge barke pri snemanju, nasedle na mivko. Pri tem je prišlo do hujših težav s posebnimi motorji Mercury Verado saj so se ti, kljub mehki mivki, poškodovali. Poklicati so morali neko lokalno podjetje, ki je zastopnik za te motorje, da so zadevo rešili. Snemanje bo potekalo še kar nekaj dni in na dan bo, prav gotovo, prišlo še kar nekaj zanimivosti. Ogled galerije.

Freshwater West meets Harry Potter and Robin Hood (martinmcdowell.com)
Russell Crowe and his Robin Hood film crew take over beach (news.bbc.co.uk)
Robin Hood filmset all ready at Freshwater West (martinmcdowell.com)
Harry Potter heads for the beach (news.bbc.co.uk)

Še nekaj fotografij, zmontiranih v filmček, avtorja wizard327:

robinhood37

Martin McDowell — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:36:47 +0000

Snemanje Robina Hooda - malce bližje

Martin McDowell — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:38:28 +0000

[caption id="attachment_1329" align="aligncenter" width="446" caption="Slika z BBC strani, avtorja Scotty"][/caption] Včeraj sem šel spet malo na ogled do lokacije snemanja novega filma o Robinu Hoodu na obali Freshwater West in zadeve so se precej spremenile od prejšnjega tedna, ko sem bil nazadnje tam. Varnostnikov ni bilo veliko in tokrat so me vsaj spustili na plažo, kljub temu, da je na tam potekalo snemanje. Povsod sami statisti, večinoma v horizontali. Če se nisem spotaknil ob statista, sem se pa skoraj ob kako sulico. Mnogi so bili pokonci že od 4. ure zjutraj, da so jih ustrezno pripravili na snemanje in ko sem bil tam so morali biti pokonci okoli 10 ur, povrh vsega pa je še sonce žgalo. Ti res, spet so se mi zasmilili. Vsi so bili obleženi v obleke iz tistih časov (vsaj upam, da so bili iz tistih časov, kakšnih ustreznih prič nimam na voljo), na severnem delu plaže so bili, tako kot teden prej, statisti na konjih. One glavne zvezde me niso zanimale in opazovanje snemanja od blizu mi je bilo precej bolj cool. Najprej sem se sprehodil gor in dol po plaži - svetovali so mi, naj hodim bolj vkraj pa se mi zdi da to ni bila najboljša ideja saj so ves čas po tem delu drveli avtomobili in štirikolesniki raznih vrst. Eden se je celo ustavil in mi ponudil prevoz do produkcijskega tabora na južnem delu. One hute, ki sem jih videl prejšnji teden, so že podrli. Od varnostnika sem izvedel, da trenutno poteka druga faza snemanja, in sicer snemanje podrobnosti, kjer glavni zvedniki niso vpleteni. Prav tako je bilo zaključeno snemanje večjih scen, kjer so bili vklopljeni številni statisti in konji. Danes so se v lokalnem časopisu tudi razpisali o gospodu Crowe-u - kaj sočnih podatkov niso razkrili, so pa potrdili, da je njegov plan, da bi se vsak dan prevažal na snemanje s helikopterjem iz prijateljeve posesti v Buckinghamshire-ju, ni bil izvedljiv, tako da je snemanje preživel v produkcijskem taboru ob snemališču. Verjetno je malo precenil oddaljenost Walesa od Londona. Matr sam smo res daleč od prestolnice, mi noben ne verjame !!! So pa v zgoraj omenjenem lokalnem časopisu tudi objavili, kako je šel na večerjo s soigralci in čisto lepo se je obnašal in popolnoma nič zvezdniško. Gostilna se imenuje Carew Inn in je v neposredni bližini srednjeveškega gradu Carew. Še celo toliko se je sprostil, da je pobral kitaro in zapel par pesmi - ena od teh naj bi bila "Leaving on a jet plane" Johna Denverja. Za hvaležnost je uslužbencev dal 350 britanskih funtov vredno napitnino. Imam tudi nekaj fotografij s tega gradu, ki jih je posnela moja mama. Ajd, dost je, sem dal danes ven modrostni zob in se mi ne piše več. Mi je zobozdravnik dal navodila in me ddrugim tudi piše, da se moram izogibat alkoholu. Ja, pa še to!!?? Nekaj super fotk z BBC-jeve strani...

Robin Hood filmset all ready at Freshwater West (martinmcdowell.com)
Freshwater West meets Harry Potter and Robin Hood (martinmcdowell.com)
Russell Crowe and his Robin Hood film crew take over beach (news.bbc.co.uk)
The difference is in the Angle (martinmcdowell.com)
Robin Hood filmset @ Freshwater West on June 23rd (martinmcdowell.com)
Sir Ridley's call for extras to fight Robin Hood's band of merry men (news.bbc.co.uk)

Skydiving after 11 months

Martin McDowell — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 12:14:58 +0000

After waiting for 11 months and practically giving up on the notion of jumping out of a plane for the foreseeable future. The given opportunity came last week, Friday off and a sunny forecast. Great weekend. Managed 7 juat the Netheravon DZ. Now all I am left to do is to get my FS1 licence as its needed in the UK for jumping in groups. Didn't take any photos, was a bit worried would get nicked as the DZ is situated on an active military base (technically its an airfield camp).

Netheravon 25. September 2009

Martin McDowell — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 17:05:36 +0000

Back here again, desperately trying to find an FS-1 coach to get my FS-1 license done. Only did one jump today as I developed one very nasty headache and it seems this is one of the rare times I didn't bring any painkillers along. Oh, what fun ;-) Beside that the Friday night jumps will commence soon, preparations are under way as I speak (I mean write). KPICASA_GALLERY(Netheravon)

p_604_453_D5FCB5C5-D27B-4C70-8C14-8E216397384C.jpeg

Martin McDowell — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 08:56:43 +0000

PA030005_smaller

Martin McDowell — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 11:24:00 +0000

PA030007_smaller

Martin McDowell — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 11:24:03 +0000

PA030008_smaller

Martin McDowell — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 11:24:06 +0000

Lightning-speed BPA

Martin McDowell — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 11:37:48 +0000

As mentioned in my [intlink id="1335" type="post"]previous post[/intlink] I had my FAI paperwork done after completing the FS1 certificate. To on the safe side and prevent from the mail to BPA with the paperwork to get misplaced (as it likes to get with the Royal Mail) or get severely delayed I decided to use the local DHL servicepoint in WH Smith and send it through them for £5.95. This turned out to be a great idea. not only did it arrive for sure, it got to them on time (DHL states it arrives in 1-2 working days). This morning I already received the necessary stuff back from the BPA, also considered myself lucky as they used the normal mail. I received my FAI National Parachute Certificate booklet with all the necessary stickers in it, minus the FS1 I received last week which I had to attach myself. I also received a new BPA card that now includes my FAI certificate number 108453. To be honest this is probably not a very busy time for the BPA (I presume) as the skydiving season is slowly coming to an end. Nevertheless , kudos to the BPA. So now I am a bit more official in skydiving in the UK :-)

Royal Mail depot can't shut its doors as mail mountain hits 30million letters and parcels (telegraph.co.uk)
Royal Mail national strike would cause havoc with Christmas post (telegraph.co.uk)

mao

Martin McDowell — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 21:19:03 +0000

Oh, what a night

Martin McDowell — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 06:56:40 +0000

After being called out, out of hours, at 8pm and then just after going to bed at midnight I was awoken by the pager at 4:50 this morning. Just as I was calling the call centre my mobile went off. This was a full-on alert. The call centre told me that they received a call from the police that our premises alarm has gone off. First the panic set in that sort of helped me wake up a bit. I dressed rather hastily (for the second time this night) and rushed still a bit dazed to the car only to be called again by the call centre that they received another call from the police that it was not our alarm that went off but the next door's. A few hasty words were spoken but not directed at the person at the other end of the line. She must have heard them but unfortunately she should be considered involved in collateral damage. I knew this might bite me in the behind if I just go back to sleep. On these occasions you sometimes get called again so I decided to check our premises anyway. Upon my arrival expecting multiple police vehicles and possibly someone from the neighbouring business, I found absolutely no one. Nada. Ziltch.No alarm was going off either. Time for a another few carefully chosen words. Then checked our place and then back home for a simulated couple of hours of sleeping. I say simulated as I actually did none. Bring on Friday, I guess.

How does Ubuntu Karmic Koala stack-up against the rest

Martin McDowell — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 10:17:34 +0000

The surprising thing for me here is that Vista came in third. In other boot speed tests I have read about it usually cam in dead last, with Windows 7 being faster, but not faster than any of the two Ubuntus. Speed test courtesy of Tuxradar.

Nepriznavanje kratice dr.vet.med. v Veliki Britaniji

Martin McDowell — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:00:48 +0000

Verjetno bi se mnogemu zdelo vprašanje manjkajoče kratice strokovnega naziva nepomembno ali pa celo na robu postavljaštva. Meni se je to dolgo zdelo in zato nisem ukrenil kaj dosti, ko sem ugotovil, da mi lokalna ustanova, ki kontrolira veterinarje v Veliki Britaniji, Royal college of Veterinary Surgeons ali krajše RCVS, kratice ni dodala v svoj register članov. Trenutno je navedena le kratica MRCVS, kar pomeni "Member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons". Ko sem najprej opazil manjkajočo kratice sem jim napisal e-pismo a nanj nisem dobil nobenega odgovora. Na vse skupaj sem pozabil dokler nisem pred kratkim dobil neko potrdilo o izobraževanju s področja zdravstvenega zavarovanja hišnih ljubljencev. Na potrdilu je zopet manjkala kratica naziva. Močno mi je smrdelo po tem, da so avtorji potrdila kopirali vsebino RCVS registra. Ker sem imel vsega že malo dovolj sem tokrat poklical RCVS. Obljubili so mi, da bodo zadevo preučili in me poklicali nazaj. To so tudi storili kako uro kasneje in mi sporočili da mi kratice "dr.vet.med." ne morejo priznati, ker le-ta ni navedena v ustrezni Evropski zakonodaji (2005/36/EU). Prav tako pa kratica ni navedena na diplomi, kar naj bi bil tudi težava. Oboje je seveda res, kratica je splošno priznana, ni pa nikjer uradno zabeležena, ne v EU direktivi, ne na diplomi. V upanju na pomoč sem pisal dekanu Veterinarske fakultete (VF) in bivšemu dekanu VF, ki mi je podpisal diplomo, v tem času pa je bil v službi vlade, kot minister za kmetijstvo. V odgovoru VF so ponudili, da mi izdajo potrdilo o kratici v angleškem jeziku za €50. V odgovoru MKGP-ja oz VURS-a pa mi predlagajo naj pridem ponovno v stik z RCVS, češ, ali sploh sprejemajo/priznavajo prej omenjeno potrdilo VF. Za vsak slučaj sem potrdilo dvignil ob naslednjem obisku v Sloveniji in ga po najkrajši poti poslal na RCVS. No, kak odgovor sem dobil:

Dear Martin Thank you for your recent letter and the 'certificate' from the Dean of the University of Ljubljana confirming that the approved post-nominal for the primary veterinary qualification is DrVetMed. We have looked into this further with interesting results. As indicated to you in August, EU Directive 2005/36/EU does indeed not list this post-nominal against the entry for the Ljubljana qualification. However, having now also looked at the The Veterinary Surgeons' Qualifications (European Recognition) Regulations 2008 - which transpose EU Directive 2005/36/EU into UK law - the table of qualifications herein does list 'DrVetMed' alongside the qualification. Whether it was omitted from EU Directive 2005/36/EU in error is not clear but, in short, we will add this to your RCVS Register entry and to that of the only other graduate from Ljubljana on the RCVS Register. Regards,

Res, da sem potrdilo naročil ne da bi predhodno vprašal RCVS ali ga sploh sprejmejo. Je pa tudi res da bi lahko na RCVS že na začetku pravilno preverili zakonodajo in bi se zgodba lahko zaključila že pred časom. Skrivnost seveda je, od kod se jim je kratica DrVetMed (ena beseda, brez pik) sploh znašla v britanski zakonodaji, saj to nikoli ni bila priznana kratica za veterinarje v Sloveniji in je v EU direktivi tudi ni. Še ne vem ali bi komu težil za to ali ne. Verjetno, da ne bom, ker se mi ne ljubi in imam bolj pametne stvari za počet :-)

waterstone_ebook_conundrum_01

Martin McDowell — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:23:32 +0000

The Waterstone's e-book conundrum

Martin McDowell — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:37:37 +0000

Logic dictates that an e-book should be cheaper than its paper counterpart, yes? One of the main reasons why people should buy e-book readers is the fact that you don't have to pay for the overpriced printing and hopefully can save a few trees at the same time. OK, lets ignore the fact that a lot of books are already made from recycled paper and that making an e-book reader creates a marked size number 11 carbon footprint of its own. This was why it was very surprising that I found an e-book on Waterstone's website that was more expensive than the printed version. As you can see the cheapest paperback edition is £4.79 and the e-book edition is £6.25. This screen capture was taken after calling the following URL. I have looked around the website and could not find this repeated again. I would welcome anybody else's feedback. Has someone found the same anomaly? I did contact Waterstones and this is what they said:

Dear Martin, Thank you for your email. I am sorry to hear that you are unhappy with the price difference between Waterstones.com and our High Street stores. There are a number of reasons that there are different prices online to instore. Firstly there is the difference in overheads, and secondly there are the negotiations that take place through Waterstones.com . We have a buyer who negotiates different special deals and promotions for the site outside of those negotiated for the high street. All our books are sourced from one third party distribution centre, which in itself allows reductions in price that are not always seen in the high street stores. We also compete in an online environment that is very different to that of the high street. That said I appreciate that sometimes this can be a confusing message when coming from the same company so please accept my apologies for any disappointment or confusion caused. Kind regards, [name witheld by blog author] Customer Service Team Waterstones.com

Fair enough. I hope this will not be a common discrepancy, otherwise I cannot see myself getting the currently overpriced e-book reader that are marked at about £200.

scary_horse_1

Martin McDowell — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 10:31:32 +0000

Scary horse

How I got bullied by three horses

Martin McDowell — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 10:33:54 +0000

[caption id="attachment_1407" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="This is not a photo from the incident"][/caption] Recently I haven not been writing about my treks round Pembrokeshire and how I have been working my way through the "Walking in Pembrokeshire" guide. I've done so many now I have been repeating some of them two to three times. This last walk I did for the first time and is worth mentioning as it was one of the more unusual. It is the walk no. 24 starting in Landshipping Quay and the day wasn't to promising as weather was concerned. I though there might be just intermittent drizzles, but it ended pouring down all day and soaking me throughout. I recently invested in some wellington boots as the grounds in Pembrokeshire were becoming more and more water-logged in recent weeks and months. They proved to be a saviour on this occasion starting as I took on the river banks of the Cleddau river in Landshipping Quay. Not long after the start of the trip I ended up in a field that was filled with, what at first looked like bullocks (castrated bulls). However as I got much closer I realised that one of them, how should I say - did not have the deed done to him. He was entire, un-castrated, missing the two-brick job. Now I know they can be very dangerous and show aggressiveness against almost everybody, including their owners, however he just seemed to have that smug look on his face like "I could have you, I could break you like a little twig and squash you like a bug". I got the hint and did not stick around to find out if I might have misread his intentions. I later found out that bulls of this breed even if un-castrated are very timid and not that dangerous. About half way into the walk I came on this field (just after Beggar's Reach) that, at first, looked like it was only populated by loads of sheep. Then almost out of nowhere three huge thoroughbred horses that looked like they were trained by "I'll be back" Schwarzenegger himself. They were massive. Not like the many half feral horse mutts you see in the Preselis that are quite shy and will usually run in the other direction of you approach them. Not only were they not afraid of me, they took an uncomfortable interest in me. The fact that haven't been many walkers on that public footpath probably for days made their curiosity even bigger. When they first came up they did that typical horse thing where they come right up to you but once you try to pat them they shy away. I am not a horse person and I had a very limited contact with them through my veterinary career so I tried to interact with them as best I knew. I soon got bored and continued on the path only to realise I was being closely followed by all three horses. The close-stalking continued as I tried to find a way out of the field and ended being cornered in the field with these three guy (they were probably female, actually). Then they started what looked to me like an increasing aggressive behaviour and for the first time I thought, "Shit, I might get hurt". It was a bit like primary school with the older boys bullying. I wasn't sure whether I have to take some command over them, shout at them or continue ignoring them. I ended up with a strange combination of all three but I think the shortness of their attention span did the trick in the end. Needless to say I hastily exited the field and thought little of the psychological damage I might have sustained ;-) The next exciting bit (NOT!) came after the Broadley farm. The track and surrounding fields were so saturated with water that the mud was nearly getting into my wellies. The problem was also I got completely stuck as my boots got sucked into the mud and moving my legs became was very very difficult. Not a completely un-dangerous situation as there was no soul around and the mobile phone reception was patchy at best. I somehow managed to almost crawl out of the very thick mixture of water, cow excrements and mud only to get myself corned at the end of the track. To get back onto the path I had to crawl under a barbed wire. Of course it wouldn't be me If I didn't get stuck nice and proper. Luckily none of the clothing I was wearing sustained any serous damage. I got back to my car in Landshipping Quay properly soaked, covered with all sorts of filth and with a new founded respect/fear of horses.

London visit - day 1 of 4

Martin McDowell — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:21:58 +0000

I soon realised my satnav is going to make me drive down the M4 right into the centre of London - no ifs or butts. Wasn't that bad really, all I had to do is to imagine I was driving downtown Ljubljana - just on a much bigger scale. And it really went very well except at the very end one of the roads was closed and I had to make up a detour on my own - only to get myself even more stuck into the dreaded London rush-hour traffic jams. In the evening I met up with a vet friend and after that went to the midnight session at the Comedy store near Leicester square. First two acts were quite good (the second one was Steve Hughes), then followed a intermission. After that a chap came on that wasn't so good but the crowd got really nasty and booed him off. I've never experienced anything like it. Although it was clear this was not his night I felt quite sorry for him. Then came an older gentleman that we later found out was a quick replacement for the show. He was so bad, he was actually cool - full off jokes that in most cases would be more suitable for an OAP venue. During his act a fight broke out, but all I could see was a bunch of security personnel trying to restrain the guy. The last act was a very funny and very good Canadian Tom Stade. The show ended at about half past two in the morning. Of course all the underground trains do not operate then so I tried getting a taxi - tough as well as they all seemed to be very busy. So I did what I do best - relied on myself and walked: from Leicester square to just south of the Tower bridge. Took me about 60 minutes and I didn't get knifed or attacked in any way. Went to bed at about 4am. During my walk I found a great Christmas scene. As I was crossing the Millennium bridge southward i turned back and saw a big beautiful Christmas tree in the distance with the St. Pauls Cathedral as a backdrop. The tree was decorated with many bright lighs and many of them were randomly flickering - almost like some kind of a strobe effect. Couldn't take a photo as my camera just wouldn't pick it up as it should be seen. My visit to London was also a good opportunity to use my iPhone to help navigate round the many streets of London. The first evening I was shown how I should really have the iPhone 3G S instead of the 3G I actually have. The problem was actually orientating myself in regards to the map. It will show you on the map where you are and perhaps where you need to go to but not actually how to get there - at least not very well. The 3G one does not have a compass and as the phone boxes don't have moss growing on them on the north side I had a no way of determining where north and south was! See the photo gallery from the whole trip here. KPICASA_GALLERY(LondonVisitDecember2009)

London visit - day 2 of 4

Martin McDowell — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 22:04:04 +0000

After only sleeping a few hours as I only went to bed at 4 am as a consequence from the previous night's walkabout London I had a Fat Tyre bike tour planned for the Saturday morning. The tour takes place on bicycles you get from the tour company and it starts at 11am just outside the Queensway underground station. Its a great way to see the city as you can see different parts of it without walking large distances. It also enables to see the sights in a more natural "linear" fashion. A lot of tourists will use the underground to see London and the problem with that is that you keep on popping up in different parts of the town without ever getting a true feeling of what the whole place looks like.

The tour itself was brilliant and the weather was really on our side, quite warm for December and with clear blue skies. The tour was fun however it just wasn't as fun as the one I had in Berlin but that was down to the very funny and cool guide they had there. After the tour I did a bit of shop scouting on Oxford street and then headed to the apartment I was renting for the duration of my visit. In the evening I headed for the John Rutter Christmas celebration presented by the The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and held at the Royal Albert hall. I almost regretted it as I was almost singlehandedly lowering the average age by quite a bit. See full photo gallery from the trip here. KPICASA_GALLERY(LondonVisitDecember2009)

London visit - day 3 of 4

Martin McDowell — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 23:37:14 +0000

[caption id="attachment_1450" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="The Cabinet War Rooms"][/caption] I started the day a bit more relaxing by taking a slow breakfast at the local Starbucks at London Bridge station opposite Guy's Hospital. A friend told me I had to try the frappucino and their panninis. The guy at the counter asked me twice if I was sure about the frappucino? It is apparently and ice-cold drink and it was the middle of December plus I was bearing a very deep and cold-ridden voice so I wisely opted for a warmer beverage - in this case for a mocha. After that I hit the museums - the Natural history museum was the first. It is housed in a spectacular old building but I quickly got tired of all the crowds and annoying kids. I also got tired of all the dead animals - I remember looking at the stuffed brown bear display thinking - I could see a live one in many countries in Europe.Quite spectacular war the dinosaur skeletons and the robotic T-rex. I was professionally interested in the bones of an Iguanodon that was showing signs of osteoarthritis - a common degenerative disease I see in my patients today. Also there was a display showing an old fracture of the pelvic bone that healed with secondary intention. The guide from the Fat Tyre bike tour recommended a visit to the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms so that was my second stop. If I understood correctly after the 2nd World War finished in 1945 they simply turned off the lights and locked the doors and left the place untouched until the eighties. Again, as far as I understand, they then just dusted the place, puts some mannequins in to make the whole thing a bit more realistic and opened it to the public. The whole place has that very authentic feel to it. There were also very few people there and the tour was absolutely great - I strongly recommend it. You also get to see a VERY comprehensive Churchill museum. Don't miss the Churchill's history timeline and make sure to remember some of his quotes. They make a good joke. After that I went for a quick drink at the local heavy metal bar called the Intrepid Fox in Soho and after that for an authentic chinese takeway in, where else, Chinatown. Still bearing the cold at the time I was absolutely exhausted. Time out! KPICASA_GALLERY(LondonVisitDecember2009)

London visit - day 4 of 4

Martin McDowell — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:33:51 +0000

[caption id="attachment_1453" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="A shark in the big tank in the London Aquarium"][/caption] Not feeling very well in the morning of the last day, this cold has been getting the better of me and running around London does not help it getting any better. Drugging-up with anti-inflammatories not helped either. [caption id="attachment_1454" align="alignright" width="225" caption="The London Eye - close to the top"][/caption] First port of call was the London eye I booked the previous day on-line. Looks amazing when standing underneath it and the views of London once you are right at the very top are stunning. Wasn't really sure how they get people on and off - I thought they had to keep on starting and stopping the whole wheel but in fact it just keeps on moving all the time at about 1 km/h and you have to be quick to get on and off. The whole trip takes about 30 minutes. There are two positions in each capsule - if you stand there you can get an automatic picture taken of you at the end of the ride. Right next to the London eye is the very good London Aquarium. The smaller fish tanks are only a prelude to the absolutely amazing large tank - it is very enormous. You see it from different angles, from walking underneath it - or more like through a tunnel, then at the side of it higher up and even right on top of it with the sharks and like swimming beneath your feet. After that was a quick jump to Regent street to visit the Apple store to buy some headphones for my iPod. The show is very big and needles to say it was packed - I guess there will be a lot of their gadgets under the tree this Christmas. If you are in Southwark and close to Bermondsey street I would definitely advise to have a lunch at the Village Deli at the corner with Tanner street. It was on the way from the London Bridge tube station and the apartment I was staying at. I tried their chicken wrap and it was delicious. KPICASA_GALLERY(LondonVisitDecember2009)

thecomedystore

Martin McDowell — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 17:38:05 +0000

The Comedy Store

Rutter-xmas-for-RAH-web-use

Martin McDowell — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:41:59 +0000

John Rutter Christmas celebration presented by the The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and held at the Royal Albert hall

Martin McDowell — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:51:21 +0000

John Rutter Christmas celebration presented by the The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and held at the Royal Albert hall

fat_tyre_bike_tour

Martin McDowell — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:56:11 +0000

cabinet_war_rooms

Martin McDowell — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 23:27:39 +0000

london_aquarium

Martin McDowell — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:25:53 +0000

london_eye

Martin McDowell — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:25:55 +0000

The winter fear of December 18 & 19

Martin McDowell — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 21:23:38 +0000

After all the worries about traveling from Haverfordwest to Stansted the 5 1/2 hour trip went fine. Blue skies in most of the Wales part, the first snow on the M4 spotted about 6 miles west of the exit for Slough. The roads are gritted and the only delay was on the M4 exit for the M25. It looked like a Smart car caught fire. It was being extinguished on the side of the motorway just as I was passing by. The worst bit is right here at the b&b near Great Dunmow - snow stuck to the road and very slippery. More snow forecast for tomorrow so not sure if my flight for Stansted still on. Update 19 December at 10:30 Freezing cold in Great Dunmow -6C, clear blue skies and no fresh snow - at least not here. There is a fresh snowstorm in Ljubljana so anything is possible (delay, cancellation, reroute ...). What a coincidence, was having breakfast at the b&b this morning with a lovely couple from Preston and were actually on the same flight as I. What now, is everyone going to Slovenia (or should I sat maybe NOT going if the weather has its way). Update 19 December at 11:50 OK, we are now designated as late. Estimated departure time 13:00 Update 20 December in the morning OK, after all the snow tears and swear words I'm finally in Ljubljana. Sorry I missed the skydiving film festival though. Off to clear the white stuff from the all so long drive soon.

Lake Bled Slovenia: alpine panoramas at half the price (telegraph.co.uk)

ragm4xmas

Martin McDowell — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 09:17:25 +0000

Ubijanje v imenu Faktorja X

Martin McDowell — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 09:20:03 +0000

V Veliki Britaniji že nekaj Božičev zaporedno prihaja na britanski glasbeni lestvici do nadvlade pocukranih komadov iz tovarne pocukranih komadov Simona Cowell-a in njegovega X Factor glasbenega show-a. Tudi za letošnji Božič je kazalo, da bo zopet zmagal njegov protežiranec in zmagovalec Faktorja X - letos je to uspelo Joe McElderry-u. Račune mu je prekrižala zelo odmevna Facebook kampanija Jona in Tracy Morter, imenovana Rage Against The Machine For Christmas No.1. Po 13. decembru, to je datumu, po katerem se začnejo šteti nakupljeni singli v okviru glasbene lestvice za Božič, je bilo potrebno preko katerekoli spletne trgovine z MP3 skladbami kupiti komad Rage Against the Machine imenovan Killing in the name. Na tak način naj bi uspeli spravit ta komad na prvo mesto namesto singla Faktorja X. To jim je to soboto tudi uspelo. Povzetek zadnjega dela oddaje, ki jo je ustvaril BBC Radio 1 lahko slišite tu http://bit.ly/ratmbbclive Kar očitno je, da skladbe, ki jih skoraj po SAW principu izdeluje Faktor X, gredo marsikateremu močno na živce in številnim se ni zdelo škoda tistih 50 do 99 penijev, ki jih je bilo potrebno plačati za komad Killing in the name. Še več. Vzporedno s to kampanijo je prej omenjena Facebook skupina spodbujala kupce komada "Killing in the name" da prispevajo kak funt v dobrodelne namene, in sicer bolj konkretno organizaciji za brezdomce Shelter. Uspelo jim je namreč zbrati čez 80.000 funtov. Poleg tega pa so 17. decembra imeli na BBC Radio 5 Morning show v živo predstavo iz Los Angelesa. Producenti so skupino prosili (mogoče celo zahtevali) da ne kolnejo. Če poznate pesem Killing in the name veste, da je kletvica "Fuck you, i won't do what you tell me" integralni del skladbe in to so seveda zapeli. Voditelja oddaje so jih po hitrem postopku odrezali, kar se na spodnjem posnetku ne sliši. Res bi rekli, da so si sami krivi. Lahko bi iskali namig v skladbi in tako vedeli, da se ne bodo ravnali po navodilih drugih. http://www.rockpit.com/ratm/index.php http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-EMCd3VWys

Facebook backing trumps Cowell song (cnn.com)
Zee.: Rage against the Machine beats Simon Cowell to UK Christmas Number 1. (thenextweb.com)
FACEBOOK WINS: Rage Against the Machine UK Christmas Number 1 (mashable.com)

What happened to all the snow?

Martin McDowell — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 16:09:56 +0000

OK. I know the general population in the UK likes to talk about the weather and this passtime seems to have crossed over to me also, please allow me to indulge in some well deserved criticism of the atmospheric and environment conditions of this Christmas in Slovenia. When I arrived in Ljubljana there was loads of snow around and still snowing as I was getting home and the outside temperature at a very chilling -10°C. Took me a few hours to get our drive and parking area cleared of all the snow. I should have just left nature take its course as a few days later the higher temperatures came to about 13°C. The snow almost instantly disappeared. I was half expecting signs of spring showing up. -------------- At home now - took me much less to get to Wales from Stansted - only 4 hours 35 minutes and that meant an average speed of 64.4 m/h. The time actually included a couple of stops.

Martin McDowell Firefox 3 download certificate

Martin McDowell — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 21:37:12 +0000

Martin McDowell Firefox 3 download certificate

Llanfallteg_pub

Martin McDowell — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 13:36:31 +0000

Zadenite valežansko gostilno za 20 funtov

Martin McDowell — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 13:46:09 +0000

Danes, 30. septembra 2009, se izteče rok za oddajo vlog za gostilniški netačaj, kjer je glavna in edina nagrada - gostilna sama. Cena za vstop v natečaj je bilo 20 funtov in število sprejetih vlog je omejeno na 30.000. Kot rečeno bo zmagovalec natečaja postal lastnik gostilne The Plash Inn & Brewery Cottage, ki se nahaja v majceni vasici Llanfallteg v Carmarthenshire-ju v Walesu. Skupna vrednost celotnega objekta je 300.000 funtov. Če torej prodajo vse karte potem bi lahko trenutni lastniki lahko dobili celo dvakratno vrednost nepremičnine. Število kart, ki jih je lahko kupil posameznik, ni bilo omejeno in tako si je lahko vsak še povečal možnost za zmago. Več na www.winapubinwales.co.uk Posodobitev: Gostilno je zadel g. Borley iz mesta Swansea.

Pembrokeshire snow in January 2010

Martin McDowell — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 21:52:22 +0000

Had a big snowstorm last night that covered Pembrokeshire with a bit of snow. These photos taken from a hike up to the highest peak in the Preseli hills - Foel Cwmcerwyn. Very windy at the top! KPICASA_GALLERY(PembrokeshireSnow2010)

sheep_abereiddy

Martin McDowell — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 20:54:04 +0000

sheep_abereiddy_2

Martin McDowell — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 20:59:43 +0000

Stranded sheep in the Blue Lagoon

Martin McDowell — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 21:01:54 +0000

The Sunday between Christmas and the New Year I spent hiking around Pembrokeshire and this time I went for walk no. 12 (Around Ynys Barry) taken from the book mentioned in some of my previous posts There is a local attraction called the Blue Lagoon that is just a few minutes away from the Aber Eiddy (also known as Abereiddy) car park where the walk originates from. The lagoon is actually an old man-made slate mining pit. The wall between the pit and the sea was later blasted to open it up making an artificial bay for ships to find shelter in high tides in case of rough seas. A bit of trivia: The Aber Eiddy Blue Lagoon was also used as a filming location for the video for the techno anthem Silence by the Canadian group Delirium (Featuring Sarah McLachlan). By the way the video was also filmed at Newgale beach. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r30HDjlpZAU As I entered the lagoon I saw a sheep on the cliffs about halfway between the top of the cliffs and the lagoon floor. I though it was a ledge that the animal accessed to get to some grass and didn't think much about it. A few days later I overheard a colleague at work saying how her dog got fixated on a sheep on the cliffs while walking and it transpired that she was walking the dog in the Blue Lagoon and that was quite probably the same sheep. I went to check as soon as possible half expecting the sheep to be gone or even worse, dead. To my surprise she was still there and I took these pictures: KPICASA_GALLERY(StrandedSheepInAberEiddy) The problem is the rocks are vertical and very slippery below. Above, from the top of the cliff, there is a very steep slope. I managed to report about the stranded sheep to the RSPCA and they confirmed they have already received reports about this incident and that there is also a farmer that is checking it daily. This all happened yesterday, Saturday January 3rd. Today I went and checked it again and it is still there, alive. This makes it at least 9 days since it has been stuck on that ledge. Does anyone else know anything more about it? The RSPCA call centre mentioned that a rescue is considered but also mentioned health and safety which fills me with a bit of a worry. I don't want to start an upset but I don't want to see an animal suffer further and am quite willing to go and get the sheep myself. I have tried out rock climbing a couple of times and this should be an easy climb/descent with the proper equipment. The only problem would be restraining the sheep and convincing her that I its supposed to be rescued and should not feel threatened. I have also tried contacting the local newspaper to get them involved. So far no reply. I would appreciate any suggestions or help. Will post any updates as they arise.

Update Monday, 4th January 2010 at 13.15

Checked on her again yesterday at about 2pm. Was still looking relatively OK. Just spoke to the RSPCA inspector. A rescue is planned this week. The farmer who is checking up on her is the owner so if all goes well she should be back with her hers by the end of the week unless she has any medical condition that needs to be treated first. Apparently sheep often get stranded in those parts and a lot of times will get themselves out of trouble.

Update Tuesday, 5th January 2010 at 19.20

Sheep still OK, were a couple of people from the RSPCA that were trying to get some food down to her. The problem today were very strong winds and icy snow. The snow was only up on the junction with the Abereiddy road which is where I had to leave my car. When I arrived I though the snow would be on the beach as well - there is a rather steep road just above Aber Eiddy. The B4330 was quite slippery on the way there as the snow was just starting at about 13.40. I left Aber Eiddy at about 14.40. This was a photo of the road: [caption id="attachment_1527" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The Abereiddy road after the snow on January 5th"][/caption]

I came home at about 18.40. That is 4 hours later!!! The trip should have taken me about 45 minutes!. This was the route I took and my average speed was 5 miles per hour. The problem wasn't the very icy B4330 - that part took me about an hour to the Ford roundabout. It took the rest to get from the roundabout at Ford to Johnston. Nuts!!! That part had an average speed of 1.7 mph (3 hours for 5.3 miles).

I have received some news from a journalist from the above mentioned local newspaper. She received information that the rescue was planned for tomorrow but due to the adverse weather conditions I doubt this.

Update Thursday, 7th January 2010 at 19.30

Received a call from the Western Telegraph newsdesk this afternoon. The reporter had learnt that the sheep was successfully rescued yesterday, Wednesday, January 6. I was just trying to get some feed arranged for her for tomorrow but it now wont be necessary. Great!

Update Thursday, 8th January 2010 at 19.35

Talked to the RSPCA inspector today who told me the sheep was so cooperative that it didn't need sedating and lifting it up was not such a problem. There were also another two sheep further along also on the cliffs but they could have possibly got themselves out of trouble but they helped them out non the less.

IMG_0117

Martin McDowell — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 19:28:21 +0000

Dedek Mraz inkognito

Martin McDowell — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 13:20:09 +0000

Secret santa je božična navada, ki sem jo opazil v Veliki Britaniji, kjer podariš poljubno izžrebani osebi darilo omejene vrednosti za Dedka mraza. Seveda ta oseba ne ve od koga je dobila darilo, vrednost pa je ponavadi omejena - v našem podjetju smo omejili na 5 funtov. Za ta Božič sem se odločil, da se pridružim tej navadi in dodal svoj ime na spisek skrivnih božičkov. Slučaj je nanesel, da sem imel zadnji dan službe pred potovanjem v Slovenijo še neke službene obveznosti, moral sem se še dokončno spakirati in se pripraviti na pot. Tisti dan je namreč [intlink id="1458" type="post"]nekaj malce snežilo v Angliji[/intlink] in po stari navadi je nastala nepopisljiva panika katere žrtev bi lahko kaj kmalu postal tudi sam. Skratka uspel sem na hitro zagrabit darilo, ki sem ga dobil od svojega skrivnega božička, se vsedel v avto in šibal domov. Doma sem darilo odložil na pult in se šel pakirat. Tik pred odhodom me je premamila radovednost in sem zato precej hitro strgal ovitek z darila da bi videl kaj je notri - bila ja škatla z električnimi avtomobilskimi kabli (mislim, da se jim reče kabli za vžiganje oz. vžigalni kabli). V škatlo nisem niti ne pogledal, sem pa imel idejo, da bi dal v avto saj je bila pred mano 5 ur in pol dolga vožnja do letališča London Stansted in prav lahko bi mi prišli prav. Sicer sem pa itak član avtokluba in bi me morali itak oni reševati na avtocesti. Tu ti na avtocesti ne bo nihče ustavil. Kable sem verjetno zato potem pustil doma, čisto verjetno pa je, da sem na vse skupaj pozabil. kasneje se je izkazalo, da mi ne bi ravno prišli prav. Beri dalje. OK, grem v Slovenijo za Božič, pridem nazaj, v službi gužva, skratka, kljub temu da sem imel darilo na pultu v kuhinji, sem nanj čisto pozabil. Slučajno pa sem zadnji dan leta kolegico v službi vprašal kaj je ona dobila, nato pa ona mene vpraša, kaj sem jaz dobil. Malo je čudno pogledala, ko sem ji dajela, da vžigalne kable saj je skrivomaj vedela, kaj mi je bilo dejansko dano. Zraven je stala še druga kolegica za katero se izkaže, da je bila moj skrvni božiček. Ta je še bolj debelo pogledala in me prav jezno vpraša, ali sem sploh odprl škatlo, ki sem jo dobil. Ne, sem ji odgovoril, saj vendar vem kako vžigalni kabli izgledajo saj niso znani po kaki estetksih lastnostih in imajo precej dolgočasno funkcijsko vrednost. Res da so bili malo težji amapak nisem se nikoli ukvarjal s tem, koliko vžigalni kabli tehtajo. Raje mislim na lasnki sneg ;-) No, in ta skrvni božičej me je skoraj nagnal domov, naj si grem pogledat, kaj sem dobil. Ker sem imel v službi še večjo gužvo (bil sem povrhu še dežuren) sem uspel končno odpreti škatlo tik pred polnočjo. Ja, res bi mi darilo pomagalo, če bi mi crknil akumulator - dobil sem namreč set vložene zelenjave. Zakaj vložena zelenjava je sicer zaradi privatnega štosa med mojim skrivnim božičkom in mano o kateri ne bom razlagal - že itak nakladam preveč.

rspca

Martin McDowell — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 19:55:19 +0000

Llyn y Fan Fach

Martin McDowell — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 18:36:40 +0000

Today I was here. Took me a while to get here and find it. Had to give up the whole trek round the mountain ridges as I was going to run out of daylight by the end of the hike. KPICASA_GALLERY(LlynYFanFach)

IMG_0140

Martin McDowell — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:35:34 +0000

IMG_0140

Martin McDowell — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 13:20:28 +0000

dara_obriain

Martin McDowell — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 20:52:18 +0000

Dara Ó Briain in Bristol on 2 March 2010

Martin McDowell — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 20:55:06 +0000

[caption id="attachment_1552" align="alignright" width="220" caption="Photo: The Sun"][/caption] This was the first time I have gone to a headlining stand-up comedy show. The one in the comedy store in London was similar in ways very very different. This was in a proper theatre and there was no intimidation or any kind of boo-ing coming from the crowd. In fact there was a fare bit of very well humoured picking of certain members of the crowd from Dara's side. I have seen Dara on many TV shows, primarily on Mock the Week. By the way, I hope to see his former colleague from that same show Frankie Boyle, next month in Swansea. The show itself was great and the seat I had was very good, quite close to the stage, but not close enough to be picked on - or spat on: In some of Dara's exuberant verbal outburtsts there was some obvious salivary discharge being made and very visible from the angle I was seeing it from (sorry Dara :-). As I am reading his wiki page I see he is only 8 months older than me. I feel quite humble, but I do beat him in the hair quantity department ;-) At least something. As many will know he actually is a very tall fella and as he stands on the edge of the stage he looks even more imposing. You wouldn't want to be in a fight with him, he'd probably beat you in a second flat. His tour has only just began and it will be going on all over the country. See Dara's personal website for more info.

hwest_on_gstreetview

Martin McDowell — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:06:42 +0000

pembs_on_gstreetview

Martin McDowell — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:06:49 +0000

Google StreetView hits Pembrokeshire

Martin McDowell — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:22:17 +0000

[caption id="attachment_1558" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Taken from Google StreetView"][/caption] Google StreetView's coverage has been extended to about 90% of the country and that now includes Haverfordwest and Pembrokeshire. The images are pretty high quality. I have heard there is a bit of an anomaly with the High Street in Pembroke Dock as part of it was filmed in once season and the other part in another, with Christmas decorations still visible. [caption id="attachment_1559" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Taken from Google StreetView"][/caption] As I did and most of the people I showed this to, also did, we went and had a look where we live and where we used to live. So go on, knock yourself out. http://maps.google.co.uk/

Woody_Pines

Martin McDowell — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 18:44:42 +0000

Woody Pines in Cardigan

Martin McDowell — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 18:50:36 +0000

[caption id="attachment_1566" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Woody Pines (woodypines.com)"][/caption] What a great night. Never though I would like country & western music. Funny thing to hear it in the heart of Wales. The guys played great and made a great atmosphere despite the hall not being completely full. As a fellow guitarist I was impressed and did appreciate how quickly the vocalist and guitarist Woody recovered from a broken guitar string. By the way, I thought the name of the band "Woody Pines" came from an association with the local North Carolina forests. In fact that is the name of the apparent leader of the group Woody (last name Pines, of course). They are currently touring Scotland and they come very warmly recommended! http://woodypines.com/ http://www.myspace.com/woodypines

WoodyPines

Martin McDowell — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 20:39:29 +0000

Oh poo, my phone has been frauded

Martin McDowell — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 19:45:34 +0000

A weird thing happened to my today. My pay-as-you-go phone that I recently had to transfer from MobileWorld to TalkMobile got barred (blocked) by the phone company. I didn't even realise anything was wrong until I tried using the phone this afternoon. Called TalkMobile and they told me that their fraud department reported fraudulent activity on my phone. What exactly that meant they either couldn't tell or chose not to tell me. They did however instruct me to go to my nearest Carphone Warehouse shop to have the SIM card unlocked. So I went and the very kind and understanding manager there had to wait on the phone for over half an hour to get it sorted. For reasons still very unclear to me the phone number was on a list of suspicious numbers. The number was quickly reactivated and I hope from now on it stays like that. In my humble opinion I think there was just a cock-up at MobileWorld. First they had problems transferring the account to MobileWorld and then there was a problem with on-line topup. Despite me informing them of my current address they still had the old one on the system. Good luck to anyone else this has happened to. Update 6-Apr-2010 While I was travelling round Snowdonia and staying in Beddgelert where there is absolutely no Vodafone signal I thought that was the reason I wasn't seeing the mobile operator "TalkMobile" displayed on the phone. It turns out they barred me AGAIN after 3 days after the first time. At least this time I had to call back the next day to sort it out and didn't have to waste my time by having to trot my way to downtown Haverfordwest

Elan valley, Snowdonia and the longest place name in Europe

Martin McDowell — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 22:13:04 +0000

Here are just some of the best photos from the trip. KPICASA_GALLERY(WalesMidAndNorth2010)

Post office / Royal mail fiasco

Martin McDowell — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 13:02:06 +0000

I was sending a letter to Slovenia as I have done so, oh so many times through the local Post Office. This time I was also returning a book to Amazon at the same time and I only later realised that I was given a »certificate of sending« for the book I was returning and not for the letter. I went back and received a hand-written "copy". OK, thought nothing of it and forgot all about it ... .. until I received the letter back through my door saying:

There isn't enough postage on this Airmail item so we are returning it to you. To resend it, please take it (with this label still in place) to a Post Office branch and pay the missing postage, or contact us on 08457 740 740.

Aaaargghhhhhhh #$%&/(!!! Calmed down and called the Royal Mail, they told me I will have to resend the letter, but I am eligible for a £5 compensation. I just presumed the letter was not weighed correctly. If its under 20g it costs 56p, more if its over that weight. Instead of going to DHL (by the way the documents inside were relatively important) as I should have done, I went to the main Post Office in town and they said it is 56p as it is weighs only 15 grams!!! Aaaargghhhhhhh #$%&/(!!!

Welsh Assembly Government

Martin McDowell — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 13:14:50 +0000

Welsh Assembly Government

Wales prepovedal elektronske ovratnike za pse in mačke

Martin McDowell — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 13:30:34 +0000

V sredo, 24. marca 2010 je v Walesu v veljavo stopil pravilnik Valežanske Skupščinske Vlade (Welsh Assembly Government), ki prepoveduje uporabo elektronskih (električnih) ovratnikov pri psih in mačkah. Ti ovratniki se v večini primerov uporabljajo za odpravljanje neželenih vedenjskih navad pri psih. V skupščinski debati so utemeljili pravilnik s tem, da so ti ovratniki nepotrebno mučenje živali in pogosto ostanejo orodje lenih in brezbrižnih lastnikov, ki ne znajo odpravljati neželenih navad pri svojih hišnih ljubljencih na noben drug način. Storilca, ki krši ta pravilnik lahko doleti zapor do 1 leta (51 tednov) in/ali denarna kazen do £5.000 (~€5.700) Wales je prva država/pokrajina znotraj Velike Britanije, ki je uvedla takšno prepoved. Organizacije, ki se borijo za zaščito živali, se zavzemajo za takšno prepoved v celotni Britaniji. That these collars are no gentle persuasion tools can be discovered by watching people trying them on themselves. In this video the guy tests it on himself and it starts at about 3.30 min, but you can watch the whole thing, I don't care. This other video is shorter and its tested by a girl. Both the above videos are actually very funny as they are done under consent, but it does have a serious back tone as dogs probably wouldn't be so prepared to wear them. Aja, pardon, sem šele zdaj opazil, da sem gornji del začel pisat v angleščini. Se mi ne ljubi zdej spreminjat.

Uradno sporočilo za javnost valežanke skupščinske vlade: http://wales.gov.uk/topics/environmentcountryside/ecnewsevents/ralatestnews/walesbansshockcollars/?lang=en
Po dolgem iskanju na straneh Valežanske skupščinske vlade, sem pravilnik dejansko našel na OPSI strani: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/legislation/wales/wsi2010/wsi_20100943_en_1 (različica v PDF)
Novica na RSPCA strani: http://www.rspca.org.uk/media/news/story/-/article/EM_ElectricShockCollarBanInWales_Mar10
Kampanija v Kennel Club: http://www.banshockcollars.org.uk/
Novica na BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/8584028.stm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9fQq3CuXro#t=3m29s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sq996M-zgvU

Olympus u700

Martin McDowell — Thu, 20 May 2010 14:16:59 +0000

Extortionate price of fixing an Olympus u700 compact camera

Martin McDowell — Thu, 20 May 2010 14:32:56 +0000

Just had a nasty surprise about my Olympus µ700 compact camera I bought 3 years ago from Pixmania and cost me about £164. Last year it started to bleach/overexpose all outdoor photos. Defaulting to factory settings did not work. I finally called the Olympus UK support line this morning and they told me that for that model they charge £90.77!!! to repair any kind of fault. Does not make any sense at all. That is just over £73 less than the price for when it was new. Sort of reminds me of the story of inkjet printers with their high repair costs and overpriced ink cartridge prices. External links:

Cwm Gwesyn and the Llyn Brianne reservoir

Martin McDowell — Fri, 21 May 2010 20:00:23 +0000

This is marked as the toughest walk in the Brecon Becons & South Wales book and it turned out to be living up to its name. The most difficult part was trying to not get lost on Bryn Rhudd at the same time as not loosing interest in the walk as well. The views on there are almost desert-like, nothing but dried grass and boggy moors. Even the sheep are sensible enough not to stray that far from the valleys. The day of the walk also happened to be the hottest day so far in 2010 and the humidity was excruciating. Despite it still not being a complete sunny day I managed to rack up quite a nasty sunburn and don't forget we are talking about Wales of all places - go figure :-) This walk also takes you to some very remote areas of Wales and in the 6h 20min it took me to walk it I didn't see a single person until reaching the Glangwesyn farm when I asked for directions. After the walk I took a drive in my car up through the valleys of the man-made Llyn Brianne reservoir that was completed in 1972 so the same young age as I. Some nice views there so definitely recommended! KPICASA_GALLERY(CwmGwesynAndTheLlynBrianneReservoir)

Cwm Gwesyn

Martin McDowell — Mon, 24 May 2010 21:56:27 +0000

Valley above Afon Gwesyn - Cwm Gwesyn

Windshield crack 2

Martin McDowell — Sat, 29 May 2010 11:20:23 +0000

A windshield chip that turned into a crack during repair

Windshield crack 1

Martin McDowell — Sat, 29 May 2010 11:20:37 +0000

A windshield chip that turned into a crack during repair

It still turned into a crack, Gavin

Martin McDowell — Sat, 29 May 2010 12:20:31 +0000

[gallery columns="2" orderby="title"] If you are living in the UK you probably know about the very well known and advertised car windscreen repair company. You know the one, I you watched 30 seconds of telly you probably saw one of their adverts. I was on board with the thought that if you have a chip in your windscreen then you should have it repaired before it turns into a crack. Well today I found out that sometimes fixing it can turn it into a crack - a 17cm one. As a small chip on the left side of my windscreen was repaired today it cracked and the repair guy stopped the procedure straight away. It was recommended to me to have the whole windscreen replaced. Am sort of sorry I had it fixed now as I am quite sure the chip would be quite stable for a while. Good news I have fully comp insurance so it only costs me the £75 excess and they will come and do it at my home on a Saturday :-)

postal cock-up

Martin McDowell — Sat, 29 May 2010 13:04:33 +0000

Climbing the eminence, and then some

Martin McDowell — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:00:44 +0000

My original plan for this days hike was Y-Garn but that soon changed once I reached the peak and gazed upon the inviting summits of Glyder Fawr and Glyder Fach. As if that was not enough and after all the struggle of descending off Glyder Fach I made a silly move and ascended up Tryfan. Now for those who haven't been up this mountain I must tell you it more resembles a high stack of very big rocks that in many cases precariously lean on each other.This kind of mountain probably never would exist in a country like Slovenia which is prone to earthquakes. Just as good as if there would have been an earthquake while I was up there I would soon find myself meta-morphed into a pâté pancake. The previous day I climbed the "horseshoe" and the next day Snowdon via the Pyg trail. KPICASA_GALLERY(Snowdonia2010)

The hell-hole that is the Ljubljana emergency department

Martin McDowell — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 19:00:34 +0000

Had the misfortune to have to take my close relative to the emergency department (urgenca) in the main Ljubljana hospital (Klinični center). She was showing signs of severe pain and the symptoms were progressively getting worse by the hour. Not that she would have particularly like to but she really needed to see somebody as this had never happened before and the condition was causing her a lot of worry. Besides, of course, being in excruciating pain. I have heard bad things about the Ljubljana EMT from various people and it was all from years ago. With all the political will in the background you would have thought that would have improved by now. It turned out nothing could be further from the truth. Despite the EMT waiting room being relatively quiet she had to put in agonizing three hours of waiting before being seen. Now I do understand that some cases need priority but to leave someone in so much distress for such a long time and not even a proper apology is in my opinion professional misconduct. It was blatantly obvious that the EMT department was under-staffed but a lot of employees that were there just simply didn't care! In our desperation we asked some nurses that were in the EMT corridor about how long we would have to wait and they in a sarcastic manor told us they are from a different department. Not a hint of compassion or understanding. It all seemed like a big joke to them that we asked them in the first place. After she received an injection of pain relief she was told to wait in the waiting room for half an hour in case of any allergic on anaphylactic reactions to the drugs she was given. This was also supposed give the staff time to write a report called an "izvid" that you are supposed to give to your GP. Instead of half an hour we had to wait another 3 hours and would probably would have to wait even longer if we wouldn't have left. I work as a veterinary surgeon in a veterinary practice for companion animals and I can assure you that if I dared pull a stunt like the Ljubljana EMT did with my relative, I would very quickly have found myself in front of the RCVS disciplinary committee. I can assure any reader of this article that we treat our patients much, MUCH nicer with tonnes more compassion and professionalism. If I was a patient in such a situation I would probably would be begging to be euthanized but I would probably get a faster service if I flew to Switzerland straight from the waiting room.

Blejski vintgar, Pokljuka, Pohorje and other Slovenian gems

Martin McDowell — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 12:06:43 +0000

These were some of the photos from my latest trip to Slovenia. KPICASA_GALLERY(KopeInHudaLuknja,BlejskiVintgar,OstrovicaHochosterwitz,GospaSvetaMariaSaal)

Llyn Ogwen and Llyn Idwal

Martin McDowell — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 14:27:04 +0000

Tragična zgodba Tommya Jonesa

Martin McDowell — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 19:00:46 +0000

Gospa Hamer, žena vrtnarja v majhni južno-valežanski vasici, naj bi ponoči sanjala o dečku, ki se je izgubil slab mesec poprej. Ko se je le opogumila in prepričala moža, da ji pomaga, se je 2. septembra leta 1900 skupaj z nekaj sorodniki odpravila na lastno iskalno akcijo. Ko je skupina z gospo Hamer na čelu prispela do grebena nad jezerom Cwm llwch, okoli pol kilometra zahodno od vrha gore Pen-y-fan, je gospa Hammer naenkrat zakričala od groze. Malo stran ob poti, kjer je hodila, je namreč ležalo trupelce izgubljenega petletnega dečka Tommya Jonesa. Pen-y-fan je najvišja točka gorovja imenovanega Brecon Beacons ki pokriva večji del južnega dela Walesa in skupaj z malo nižjim dvojčkom z imenom Corn Du tvorita čudovit razgled, ki bolj spominja na površino lune, kot pa na zeleno valežansko hribovje. Malo ob poti na vrh Brecon Beacons boste našli manjši obelisk, ki so ga postavili po končani iskalni akciji izginulega dečka Tommya. 4. avgusta daljnega leta 1900 se je oče, po poklicu rudar, odpravil skupaj s svojim petletnim sinom Johnnyem na obisk sorodnikov na kmetijo nekaj kilometrov južno od mesteca Brecon. V Brecon sta prispela z vlakom okoli šestih zvečer, do kmetije pa ju je vodila šest in pol kilometra dolga pešpot. Okoli osmih zvečer sta prispela v danes podrto vasico Login, kjer je bila v tistem času nastanjena vojska, ki je imela višje v dolini strelske vaje.

Zgodba se zdi močno oddaljena in življenja takratnih prebivalcev so že dolgo pozabljena. Prav tako se zdi, da na večer 110. obletnice Tommyevega izginotja njegovemu obelisku delajo le dežne kaplje in ovce na paši.

Bila sta namenjena v še danes obstoječo majhno kmetijo z imenom Cwm-llwch. Od Logina do kmetije je bilo le okoli pol kilometra rahle hoje navkreber. Kljub temu, sta oče in sin za nekaj časa postala z vojaki in se okrepčala. Čisto po naključju, pa sta takrat v Login prispela še Tommyev dedek in 13-letni bratranec Willie John. Willija so poslali nazaj domov v Cwm llwch, da družino obvesti o skorajšnjem prihodu sorodnikov, za njim pa je stekel tudi mladi Tommy. Pot je bila za Tommya kar strašljiva, saj sta morala prečkati dve brvi postavljeni med gosto pozidanimi stavbami. Ena od brvi ni imela ograje in vse skupaj je bilo preveč za Tommya, ki je planil v jok. Želel je iti nazaj k očetu v Login. Dečka sta se zato ločila: Willie John navkreber po dolini proti kmetiji, Tommy pa nazaj navzdol v Login. Willie je v kmetijo prispel okoli petnajst minut potem, ko je zapustil strica in dedka, mladi Tommy pa v Login nikoli ni prispel.

Sam sem bil v tej dolini v mesecu, ko je Tommy izginil in v večernih urah, okoli osme zvečer. Dan v Walesu traja precej dolgo in ob osmih je svetlobe še veliko, se pa sonce hitro spusti za zahodnim grebenom Pen Milan in stemni se precej hitro.

Ko sta oče in dedek tudi sama končno prispela na kmetijo in ugotovila, da je Tommy izginil, sta ga začela takoj iskati. Po kakih dvajsetih minutah so se iskanju pridružili še vojaki iz Logina. Iskanje so prekinili ob polnoči, a ga že tri ure kasneje nadaljevali. Iskanju so se ta dan potem še pridružili še policija in sovaščani. Tommya nikakor niso našli in tako se je nadaljevalo iz tedna v teden. Vsak dan so sistematično preiskali dolino in okoliške travnike, porezali grmovja, in prečesali gozdove. Porodila se je celo ideja, da bi preiskali tudi dno jezera Cwm llwch, vendar je prevladalo mnenje, da petletni deček zagotovo ni uspel priti tako visoko v dolini. Predvidevali so, da se je ob poskusu vrnitve v Login izgubil in šel predaleč v dolino ali pa je celo ob prečkanju brvi padel v vodo. Iskanje so zato osredotočili na dolino in celo do mesta Brecon. Ker dečka še vedno niso našli, so se porodile ideje, da so ga ugrabili - to je bilo za svojce tudi zadnji up, da bi Tommy še našli živega. V tistih časih so bil glavni osumljenec za taka dejanja okoliško Romsko prebivalstvo. Tudi preiskave njihovih naselbin niso obrodila sadov. Zgodba je seveda prišla v medije in časopis The Daily Mail je ponudil nagrado, njihov predstavnik pa je tudi aktivno sodeloval v iskalnih akcijah. Po tednih iskanja je bil Tommyev oče primoran zapustiti dolino in se vrniti domov v Maerdy, vendar se je uspel kmalu vrniti in sodelovati v nadaljnih iskanjih. Bil je tudi eden redkih, ki so se pri iskanju povzpeli na vrh Pen-y-fan. Ravno približno v tem času pa je imela gospa Hamer svoje razsvetljujoče sanje, kjer je v njih videla mesto, kjer leži Tommy. In tako se je okoli mesec po izginotju - 2. septembra še z nekaterimi drugimi svojci podala na iskanje visoko v dolino Cwm llwch in na greben nad njim. Trupelce maldega dečka so še isti dan prenesli v dolino.

Obelisk, ki je bil postavljen na mestu, kjer so našli Truplo Tommya Jonesa kaže kako zelo blizu so morali biti iskalci, ko so prečesavali greben. Leži skoraj čisto na poti do vrha Corn Du in Tommyev oče je bil verjetno le nekaj metrov stran, ko ga je iskal. Iskalci so verjetno videli le nekaj podobno skali v visoki travi.

Sledil je sodni postopek, kjer je bilo kmalu potrjeno, da je deček umrl zaradi izčrpanosti in podhladitve. Nihče pa ni mogel jasno razložiti, kako naj bi tako majhen deček uspel priti tako visoko, ko pa je bil namenjen dol v dolino. Trupelce je bilo najdeno na nadmorski višini 700m, ker je pomenilo 400m višinske razlike z vasico Login, okoli tri in pol kilometra hoje čez strm in težko dostopen teren in to v precejšnji slabi vidljivosti. Najverjetneje se je Tommy potem, ko sta se ločila z Willie Johnom, izgubil, ko je prečal prvo brv nato pa namesto, da bi prečkal drugo brv skrenil na levo in se potem "zahodil" v zahodni greben Pen Milan misleč, da se dejansko vrača priti kmetiji. Dečka je povrh še najverjetneje zajela panika in skupaj z vedno slabšo vidljivostjo je nadaljeval pot proti grebenu Cwm llwch. Danes žal vidimo, kako dolgo je zdržal in kako daleč je uspel priti. Dečkova družina je več let hranila črtasto obleko, ki jo je takrat nosil skupaj s piščalko, ki jo je imel na sebi in bi mu verjetno rešila življenje, če bi jo bil uporabil preden je omagal od izčrpanosti. Porote so v tistih časih dobile nezanemarljivo denarno nadomestilo za svoje delo in porota, ki je sodelovala pri preiskavi Tommyeve smrti se je plačilu odrekla. Denar, skupaj z drugimi prispevki okoliških prebivalcev (ga. Hamer se je prav tako odrekla precejšnjemu delu nagrade, ki jo je ponudil The daily Mail) je šel v postavitev obeliska, ki so ga postavili julija naslednje leto - 1901. Obelisk so morali zvleči gor s posebnimi sanmi in konjsko vprego. Od takrat je obelisk spomnil na tisoče planincev na dečka, ki je v rokah hribovja Brecon Beacons podlegel izčrpanosti in podhladitvi. [caption id="attachment_1666" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Obelisk z dolino Cwm llwch pod njim"][/caption]

Napis na obelisku:

This obelisk marks the spot where the body of Tommy Jones aged 5 was found. He lost his way between Cwmllwch Farm and the Login on the night of August 4th 1900. After an anxious search of 29 days his body was found on September 2nd.

Vir:

The Tommy Jones obelisk

Martin McDowell — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 07:54:53 +0000

The Tommy Jones obelisk situated below Corn Du in the Brecon Beacons in Wales

tommy_Jones_obelisk_w_title

Martin McDowell — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 07:58:15 +0000

Using Gmail phone to Slovenia

Martin McDowell — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 06:55:03 +0000

When I looked up my GMail account this morn morning I saw that they activated the GMail phone feature for me and so far it is looking much better than Skype. These are the per minute call rates to a landline to Slovenia.

Skype (PAYG): 0.041 GBP/min Google Voice: 0.026 GBP/min

Prices above include VAT and were taken from the Google and Skype websites on 27. August 2010. Limitation with Google Voice at the moment is that they let you add funds to your account only by $10 ONLY exactly.

Me

Martin McDowell — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:44:33 +0000