On a bus today heading from Paris to the south of France. We stopped in Dijon, a beautiful village full of interesting architecture, but that apart it was a day of travel.
Avignon seems nice though I've only seen a little of it around the hotel.
Really hot here - 37 degrees outside! Look out France, I'm going to be in my shorts tomorrow!
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Day 13 - August 20th London - Paris
When organising this trip, I asked to go to Paris on the Eurostar so I could experience the Channel tunnel. So I did experience it and it was interesting that the security to get into France was so low-key. But that apart, it wasn't especially interesting and the Tunnel itself was so short that I hadn't realised it was THE tunnel until we suddenly arrived in daylight in France.
It was a pleasant train trip and apart from one day, I have never been in France, so it's very exciting to finally arrive there. I am a bit nervous about being in a city where people don't speak English because I certainly do not speak French.
One aspect of the train trip that amused me is that announcements were in both languages with English first at the beginning, and French at the end. Funny because there was a plotline about the Tunnel on YES PRIME MINISTER which discussed this very point.
In Paris it's a beautiful sunny day and the cab whizes through the city to a hotel on a street named after George Pompidou. An early night as I'm off to the south of France tomorrow!
It was a pleasant train trip and apart from one day, I have never been in France, so it's very exciting to finally arrive there. I am a bit nervous about being in a city where people don't speak English because I certainly do not speak French.
One aspect of the train trip that amused me is that announcements were in both languages with English first at the beginning, and French at the end. Funny because there was a plotline about the Tunnel on YES PRIME MINISTER which discussed this very point.
In Paris it's a beautiful sunny day and the cab whizes through the city to a hotel on a street named after George Pompidou. An early night as I'm off to the south of France tomorrow!
Day 12 - August 19th - London
Last day in London and I spent the morning on a work related matter! Ended up taking five hours! You're suddenly aware of how much the brain is in holiday mode and that suddenly having to concentrate is a change of pace. Ended up taking five hours, and at the end of it I felt a bit tired. But it was the first summer day of the trip so I felt like I should get out in it. So I did something I have never done before and took the famous British double-decker sightseeing bus as it wandered around London. I sat in the sun and followed the commentary, and rejuvenated myself.
Again I leave London with things not done that I would have liked to have done. I still haven't looked through the Tower of London, something I would very much like to do. Still it's nice to have things still to look forward to for my next visit to London, and I hope there will be a next one.
I have done a lot of the things I wanted to do including a couple of shows, a fair bit of sight-seeing and a fair bit of catching up with people. Next time I will definitely try and come over during a Lord's test and I will know to book tickets a long time in advance.
Again I leave London with things not done that I would have liked to have done. I still haven't looked through the Tower of London, something I would very much like to do. Still it's nice to have things still to look forward to for my next visit to London, and I hope there will be a next one.
I have done a lot of the things I wanted to do including a couple of shows, a fair bit of sight-seeing and a fair bit of catching up with people. Next time I will definitely try and come over during a Lord's test and I will know to book tickets a long time in advance.
Friday, August 19, 2011
Day 11 - August 18th - London
Back in London for a couple of days before I head off to France! It was another really really wet day, from lunchtime on and again I foolishly go without my big black Kirkcaldies coat. I guess the logic to me is that a summer rainstorm is likely to be short and warmish, perhaps even refreshing. Instead it's cold and hard rain and again I cop a soaking. I hope my weather rants are not becoming boring, but here we are in Day 11 and I am yet to have what I would call a summer day, a day where I can wear my shorts. At this rate I will return to New Zealand without the slightest sign of a sun-tan and looking at my pasty face in the mirror as I write this, I could really do with some sun on me. Next time I will bring wet weather gear.
One of the things I have been looking forward to is in London is reading really good newspapers and on that score I've been disappointed. The Independent for example seems to be a favourite of hotels, I suspect because it veers somewhere in between being a tabloid and a serious paper. I find a good deal of its news coverage terribly tedious. Page three today is devoted to a report of Ken Livingstone's description of the race between himself and Boris Johnson for the London Mayoralty as comparable to the battle between Churchill and Hitler. As you read the remarks, they're, obviously enough, a joke, and I find myself wondering why this amount of space was given to such a lightweight story. The paper also gives plenty of coverage to the launch of Celebrity Big Brother and I guess I find it all a tad strange for a paper which once refused to cover the Royals because they were too trivial.
This time I am in Kensington which is at the west of the central city but close to fashionable suburbs like Notting Hill and White City. It's also near to some of London's great parks. So I'm not in the centre of town as I was before but still very well placed. London's transport system makes it reasonably straightforward to get around once you understand how it works. Today though I try to find myself a shop that will sell me a bus pass and find it difficult. One bus stop is directly outside a dairy, buses go past saying it goes to White City which is where I want, and the shop has a London Transport logo on it so in I go. Inside the man behind the counter says they do sell bus tickets but only to Ulster. "So where can I get bus tickets to White City?" I ask. He shakes his head. I just don't get it. Seeing as the bus stop is right outside and there is nothing at the stop that tells how to get a ticket, I can't have been the only person ever to come in to ask this question. Surely you'd try and find out how the ticket system works???
It's an interesting thing, service. I have to admit to not always finding phone calls at work from the public a good thing if they're trivial "what was the last song that Lloyd just played?" and I'm busy trying to concentrate on subbing a package. But I get the feeling that in the tourist industry, service is regarded as being about smiling and nodding and checking that you're enjoying the meal and so on, rather than actually providing a service. It's nice if people are friendly, but I'd rather they actually helped me when I asked for it. I asked at the hotel shop today if they could provide me with a map of the suburbs heading west and bought a book of maps on the man's recommendation - only to find it didn't have maps going west. Annoying!
I fear I am beginning to sound a bit grumpy when - really and truly - I am having a good time here, relaxing, reading, eating well, catching up with folk, sight-seeing and so on. But there we are, I have a few grumbles and today you get to read some of them.
One of the things I have been looking forward to is in London is reading really good newspapers and on that score I've been disappointed. The Independent for example seems to be a favourite of hotels, I suspect because it veers somewhere in between being a tabloid and a serious paper. I find a good deal of its news coverage terribly tedious. Page three today is devoted to a report of Ken Livingstone's description of the race between himself and Boris Johnson for the London Mayoralty as comparable to the battle between Churchill and Hitler. As you read the remarks, they're, obviously enough, a joke, and I find myself wondering why this amount of space was given to such a lightweight story. The paper also gives plenty of coverage to the launch of Celebrity Big Brother and I guess I find it all a tad strange for a paper which once refused to cover the Royals because they were too trivial.
This time I am in Kensington which is at the west of the central city but close to fashionable suburbs like Notting Hill and White City. It's also near to some of London's great parks. So I'm not in the centre of town as I was before but still very well placed. London's transport system makes it reasonably straightforward to get around once you understand how it works. Today though I try to find myself a shop that will sell me a bus pass and find it difficult. One bus stop is directly outside a dairy, buses go past saying it goes to White City which is where I want, and the shop has a London Transport logo on it so in I go. Inside the man behind the counter says they do sell bus tickets but only to Ulster. "So where can I get bus tickets to White City?" I ask. He shakes his head. I just don't get it. Seeing as the bus stop is right outside and there is nothing at the stop that tells how to get a ticket, I can't have been the only person ever to come in to ask this question. Surely you'd try and find out how the ticket system works???
It's an interesting thing, service. I have to admit to not always finding phone calls at work from the public a good thing if they're trivial "what was the last song that Lloyd just played?" and I'm busy trying to concentrate on subbing a package. But I get the feeling that in the tourist industry, service is regarded as being about smiling and nodding and checking that you're enjoying the meal and so on, rather than actually providing a service. It's nice if people are friendly, but I'd rather they actually helped me when I asked for it. I asked at the hotel shop today if they could provide me with a map of the suburbs heading west and bought a book of maps on the man's recommendation - only to find it didn't have maps going west. Annoying!
I fear I am beginning to sound a bit grumpy when - really and truly - I am having a good time here, relaxing, reading, eating well, catching up with folk, sight-seeing and so on. But there we are, I have a few grumbles and today you get to read some of them.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Day 10 - August 17th - Edinburgh - London
A story in the Scottish Daily Mail today proclaimed Scottish men to be the manliest in the world. It was one of those strange survey stories which us reporters love to spice up a dullish page, but that we also know doesn't mean much.
The surveyors, paid by a shaving company, didn't ask on what basis people decided which men were most manly, and so the paper had gone to some commentator for an explanation. He listed Scottish poets, Scottish actors and the chef Gordon Ramsay as examples of Scottish manliness and then pointed to the Scottish landscape as further proof.
Now I guess I don't really think of acting, cooking and writing poetry as the first signs that a bloke is especially manly. The landscape example is baffling to me. Does it drive men to go hiking - which in any event women seem to enjoy just as much?
New Zealand rated sixth after Australia, England, Finland and Russia, by the way.
One of my favourite books is A Man's Country by Jock Phillips, a study of New Zealand men. He had chapters devoted to rugby and drinking and misogynistic attitudes to women. I rather wish he would update the book - it must be at least 20 years old.
I can't claim great expertise on the subject of Scottish manliness but I have been interested that after almost two weeks of taking taxis around London and Edinburgh I have yet to see a woman taxi driver. Now mucking about with cars does seem a bit blokey but there's no reason why a woman couldn't drive at breakneck speed while telling you how London's been overrun by foreigners.
Back in London, at a different hotel, this time in Kensington. Looking forward to a good wander round the nearby parks. And some sun - currently it's raining.
The surveyors, paid by a shaving company, didn't ask on what basis people decided which men were most manly, and so the paper had gone to some commentator for an explanation. He listed Scottish poets, Scottish actors and the chef Gordon Ramsay as examples of Scottish manliness and then pointed to the Scottish landscape as further proof.
Now I guess I don't really think of acting, cooking and writing poetry as the first signs that a bloke is especially manly. The landscape example is baffling to me. Does it drive men to go hiking - which in any event women seem to enjoy just as much?
New Zealand rated sixth after Australia, England, Finland and Russia, by the way.
One of my favourite books is A Man's Country by Jock Phillips, a study of New Zealand men. He had chapters devoted to rugby and drinking and misogynistic attitudes to women. I rather wish he would update the book - it must be at least 20 years old.
I can't claim great expertise on the subject of Scottish manliness but I have been interested that after almost two weeks of taking taxis around London and Edinburgh I have yet to see a woman taxi driver. Now mucking about with cars does seem a bit blokey but there's no reason why a woman couldn't drive at breakneck speed while telling you how London's been overrun by foreigners.
Back in London, at a different hotel, this time in Kensington. Looking forward to a good wander round the nearby parks. And some sun - currently it's raining.
Day 9 - August 16th - Edinburgh
Wet wet wet!
When I left the hotel it looked like light rain. I thought I could put up with that. I took a sweater but no coat or umbrella.
Bad luck for me. I got drenched.
At the Festival, the acts chnage every hour. So even if you have tickets, you spend a hell of a lot of time standing in queues. Today it was cold and wet and miserable. I ended up wet and eventually I gave up and returned to the hotel, despite not seeing the last act I had paid for.
Still I did see Andy Zaltsman and Alun Cochrane, both very clever. Alun was the best act I saw here. A nice way to finish up but would have preferred to have done so after the last act. And without wet feet.
When I left the hotel it looked like light rain. I thought I could put up with that. I took a sweater but no coat or umbrella.
Bad luck for me. I got drenched.
At the Festival, the acts chnage every hour. So even if you have tickets, you spend a hell of a lot of time standing in queues. Today it was cold and wet and miserable. I ended up wet and eventually I gave up and returned to the hotel, despite not seeing the last act I had paid for.
Still I did see Andy Zaltsman and Alun Cochrane, both very clever. Alun was the best act I saw here. A nice way to finish up but would have preferred to have done so after the last act. And without wet feet.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Day 8 - August 15th - Edinburgh
Part of the reason for coming to the other side of the world for a holiday was in the hope of getting some sun. I didn't get one really sunny day in London. There was some sun the other day in Edinburgh but it was accompanied by a coolish Wellington-style breeze. Yet people were saying it was the best weather they had had in ages. I guess I didn't expect tropical weather in Edinburgh, but is it too much to ask that I be able to go out in a short-sleeved shirt?
I forgot to bring my sunhat but the truth is that in just over a week I would have had no reason to wear it. I bought a cap at the airport - my first ever cap in my life - but it has mainly been in use to hide my bald head.
Of course I am still far better off than friends, family and workmates back home who have been struggling with the snow. There seems to be a love-hate relationship with the snow, people loving the beauty of snowy scenes, but hating the disruption it causes.
It was cool if not cold in Edinburgh yesterday but I still wandered round the town, and took in two more shows. Ed Byrne is one of the best young comedians and was really very good. I also saw one of the city's chat shows and found that very entertaining too.
My last day today. I really must come longer next time and buy tickets earlier. Three shows booked for today.
I forgot to bring my sunhat but the truth is that in just over a week I would have had no reason to wear it. I bought a cap at the airport - my first ever cap in my life - but it has mainly been in use to hide my bald head.
Of course I am still far better off than friends, family and workmates back home who have been struggling with the snow. There seems to be a love-hate relationship with the snow, people loving the beauty of snowy scenes, but hating the disruption it causes.
It was cool if not cold in Edinburgh yesterday but I still wandered round the town, and took in two more shows. Ed Byrne is one of the best young comedians and was really very good. I also saw one of the city's chat shows and found that very entertaining too.
My last day today. I really must come longer next time and buy tickets earlier. Three shows booked for today.
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