Gdynia Plaża Orłowo & Radiohead

Orlow cliffs

Another glorious day in Gdynia, we eat breakfast in Traffik working our way through their festival menu. We deicided to head for the beach for a walk before the start of the festival in the afternoon. So we took an Uber to Plaża Orłow. Once there we took a walk along the cliffs, rounding back through the forest. Followed by a short stroll across the pier.

Festival selfie

After a cold beer and sit at the Pizzeria it was time to get back to Gdynia so we could head out to Open'er! The festival ran a bus services from the station in Gdynia direct to the festival. It was busy but well organised with plenty of buses so we didn't have to wait for too long. Arriving at the festival entrance there was a short walk past the camping area to the main festival area. 

We headed past the main stage to the tent stage to watch Michael Kwianuka, after hearing some of his songs in big little lies its was quite nice. Then we had a bite to eat and a beer before James Blake then Radiohead on the main stage.

Radiohead were amazing there set covered pretty much all their albums with favourites like Paranoid Android, Lucky, Nude and an amazing encore ending on my personal favourite Street Spirit.

I was scared getting back from the festival would be awful thanks to the large number of people queuing for the buses, but actually they organised everything really well so we only had to wait about 15 minutes to get onto a bus.

Arriving in Gdnyia

Its been a whirlwind since we arrived back from the Opener festival in Gdnyia Poland last Sunday (2nd July 2017).

Arrival, tall ships and great weather

Dar Młodzieży

Thanks to the flights we arrived in Gdyina a few days early for opener. Taking an early morning flight from Manchester to Gdansk then a short train ride we were in Gdynia in time for lunch. We checked into the Hotel Mercure Gdynia, a 70s era concrete pile. There were plenty of follow festival goers checking in, indeed there was some deal for the VIP holders. Then headed out to eat lunch at Pyra bar. A potato themed place that did great potato babka.

We then spent the afternoon enjoying the good weather, and a few beers around Gyndia.

Tuesday we ate a fantastic breakfast  at Trafik. They were doing some festival specials which were very tasty, so tasty we ended uop returning nearly every day for a post festival breakfast / brunch.

Pyranha

After breakfast we headed to the pier and had a wonder around the aquarium. This was quite good, most of the sections had dual language descriptions so that I could understand what I was looking at.

They was also some big sections on the dangers of ocean pollution.

After the Aqurium we had a wonder around the ORP Błyskawica a second world war era destroyer originally build in the UK for the Polish navy. It saw service in the war then was used by the Polish navy during the Soviet era. It is the oldest preserved destroyer in the world, and provider a fascinating time spent wondering around.

Open'er Festival bands

We went to pick up our festival bands, a day early but it avoided the large queues that appeared later in the week. We got our from the train station not realiseing that there was an open'er festival station right outside the hotel. Indeed there was an open stage for the festival where bands were playing for free in the city.

Live forever

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair

- Charles Dickens (A Tale of two cities)

What a time we are having, from the grief of the Manchester bombing to a concert of defiance and refusal to give in to terror. Kath and I spent the evening watching Ariana Grande One Manchester concert. Even with last nights London terror attacks the concert was very well done showing a spirit of defiance. The highlight for me was watching Liam Gallagher singing live forever with Chris Martin. It was also amazing to watch the people enjoying themselves not letting terrorists dictate the terms to us.

On Saturday Kath and I had a BBQ / housewarming. The whole gang came round, including Dannys' new significant other the lovely Kate.  I also got a chance to meet some of Kaths colleges from Chester which was really nice. Patrick and Rhiannon were lovely it was great that they made the trip.

I spent most of my time grilling various meat and non meat alternatives on the bbq, while enjoyed a few tins of becks veir. The weather report predicted rain so Ian lent us his gazebo, but we managed to get sun most of the day with only a short shower.

Don't look back in anger

Start of the Great Manchester Run

Yesterday I took part in the Great Manchester Run 2017. The first time they ran a half marathon. After the bombing at the Manchester Arena earlier in the week I wasn't sure what the atmosphere would be like.

I need not have worried, what an amazing community we live in. The half marathon started at 9am, there were already people lining the route to cheer the runners on. Before setting of we had a minutes silence followed by them playing Oasis dont look back in anger. It was a poignant moment. The run itself took us past both the City of Manchester and Old Trafford Stadiums. It was quite strange to run over the Mancunian way.

After the run I headed to St Anne's square to pay my respects and look at the tributes laid there. It was simply incredible, a sea of flowers, balloons messages, its was humbling to see.

My final time was 1:58:38 which was a little slower than I hoped for, my legs got really tired around the 12 mile mark. That didn't detract from what was an amazing day.

In the evening we had a visit from Esther and Kimberly, they had come to Manchester for a spot of shopping. Kimberly is planning to buy a house in south shields, it looks like a good buy we hope that she get it.

Coco missing

On Thursday morning Coco decided that the new house wasn't for her. We think that she went out of an open window. The house has been very quiet ever since, I miss having the company around the house. Coco used to keep me company while Kath was working in Poland, her presence made the house feel much less empty.

The only sighting since she left were on Thursday evening, nothing since then. We have spoken to neighbours and walked around the estate but not see her. My only hope is that somebody finds her and take her to the vet, she is microchipped so they should be able to return her to us.

We got the power

Coco enjoying the view

A week after moving in most of our possessions are still in boxes. After a huge amount of work we have a decent bedroom, a functioning kitchen and a clean bathroom.

I also managed to clean the bathroom and get the heating up and running (with a little help from Phil the plumber).

Coco spent the week being terrified, she cowered in her carrier the first day, then found a  hiding place underneath the kitchen cabinets. She has started to calm down as the house becomes less chaotic.

I have a lawn for the first time since living with my parents. It was quite fun to give it a mow, whether I'll still enjoy the moving when I have to do it every week is another question!

One of the main jobs was sorting out the kitchen, this mostly meant deep cleaning it, and getting new appliances. It was designed for built in appliances but we modified the cabinets to allow us to have free-standing ones. These are cheaper and in my opinion better.

Last night we had Bruce, Nina Connie Ian and Helen round for dinner. Kath prepared some sushi, with katsu curried  chicken and aubergine. I did some "small" jobs including changing over the loo seat which I stupidly proclaimed would take ten minutes. Some hour and a half later I was hacksawing off the bolts which had rusted solid.

Fixed kickboards

Connie enjoyed running around the garden and having a sit on my reclining chair. After all the hours spent cleaning and making the place normal it was great to have people round and enjoy ourselves. Though Ian did accuse me of giving him too much wine!

Lawn

Leaving LA

Removal van

Last night was our last night at Neston Way. Yesterday we watched all our stuff being boxed, today it was time to move. I say that we watched them getting boxed, actually my mother oversaw the removal men while Kath and I went round to clean and paint as much of the house as we could while it was empty. I listened to Father John Mistys' album leaving LA on repeat while I painted, it had just the right vibe for brushwork.

I went to the house early so that I could paint the walls before the new appliances arrived. They were due between 10am-2pm. Our appliances order from AO arrived at 12. Unfortunately several catastrophes happened. The fridge had a mark so had to be sent back for replacement. Then whilst wheeling in the washing machine the lady driver got her arm trapped between the doorframe and the washing machine. She didn't break it but it was very painful. This delayed the installation so that the removal van arrived before they finished.

They finished unloading by around 4.30pm, and we unpacked as much as we can. Mostly just the kitchen for now. I guess the movers though that we had too much kitchen stuff as one of the boxes was labelled "never ending kitchen items"!

Coco was terrified during the move, she refused to come out of her cat carrier for hours, cowering at the back. When she did come out she found other places to hide away. Hopefully she will get use to the new place soon.

I am now sat in bed with my Macbook, using mobile broadband as we don't have a landline connection as yet. It is a little bit flaky but better than nothing for the time being. Most of our possessions are still in boxes, including our electric toothbrushes. Fortunately we found an old electric with some spare head Kath saved for travel use. I feel very tired and it i

s back to work tomorrow.

Ascension

Today is the day, after months we should be completing on the purchase of our new place in Wilmslow. It is the first time Kath and I have bought a house together, the current place I bought a year before we met. Its going to be a busy weekend of moving, and a LAN party tomorrow!

Earlier this week Kath's friend Mike joined us for a couple of days. She had to do an exam so Mike and I headed out into Manchester. He is into football so we went to Old Trafford to have a tour of the ground.
After the tour we headed into the city centre, had a walk from the town hall, past St Anne's Square to the triangle and a well deserved couple of beers in the Old Wellington. Then into the Arndale to get a gift for his Wife Karolina.
It was a gorgeous day in Manchester the sun was shining (no really!), we even got a little bit of a sun tan sat outside the Old Wellington.

Taking train home we manage to find time to fit in another beer at the Railway in Handforth. Before a changing and heading to meet Kath for dinner at the Bulls Head. Her exam seemed to have gone well, she came straight from the station so had her overnight bag which a local Shih Tzu took a liking too, sniffing the bag.

I hope that he enjoyed our brief tour of the city, I had to work on Wednesday so went to bed after dinner. Mike and Kath spend a few more hours having drinks and reminiscing.

Pleasure

Kasia and I headed to Anglesey to spend part of the long weekend with Bruce, Nina, Connie and Kath - Nina's Mum.

Nina had rented a cottage on the Island for a week family getaway. Unfortunately Bruce's parents had a car issue and could not join along.

Driving down on Saturday, it was the first long drive since I bought the BMW. It performed excellently on the long stretch of A55. While driving we listened to the latest album from Feist, entitled Pleasure.

The place we stayed at was called Clynnog Estate - a set of converted farm buildings and new build houses. We stayed at number 1, which I think was a converted barn or out building. Inside it was very well appointed, tastefully furnished with a large open plan dining kitchen and living space.

Saturday evening Bruce and I travelled to Menai and got a takeaway curry from Taste of India. I took chicken jaipuri special and Kasia had the sylhet chicken special. After dinner we sat in the living space talking and enjoying a few drinks. Nina's Mum amused us as she was by tracking the progress of the boxing match between Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Kithschko on her phone. We really enjoyed their company it felt very natural and relaxed.

On Sunday we started with Connie asking us: 'What doing?' and a 6 km jog from the house round the to the nearest village. It was windy but we got a great view out. Arriving back to find Nina had made a lovely full English breakfast.

After breakfast we went for a look around Plas Newydd House. One of the National Trust properties on the Island, it was formally the residence of the Marquis of Angelsey. Inside it proved to be a fascinating house. Set in a stunning location with a views across the Menai straight. While exploring the house we were fortunate to catch a theatrical performance. A lady dressed in period costume talked us through the famous mural painted by Rex Whistler. He reputedly had an liaison with Caroline Paget, painting her nude, though there is some debate as to whether she posed or he used his imagination. After walking round the house we had a stroll arounds the gardens, then a play in the adventure park. Connie had a great time.

The thirst

This evening I took the opportunity to see Jo Nesbo speak. He was launching his new book the thirst. Along with Waterstones he had arranged a talk, Q&A and book signing in Liverpool at oh me oh my. The latest book the thirst is the 11th instalment of Nesbos' work following detective Harry Hole.

Battling traffic I arrived just in time to catch the start. Jo told us the correct way to pronounce both his own name and Harry Hole (apparently it is Harry HOO-LEH). When writing the first Harry Hole book the Bat, (which is set not in Oslo but in Sydney Australia) Nesbo deliberately chose a name that would be mispronounced in English, as a sort of in joke for hte Norwegian readers. At the time he had no idea the Harry would be around for 11 volumes most of which are set in Oslo. He than talk about writing. It was interesting to learn that when he re-read the books he can see thing that were going on in his own life that perhaps he didn't connect at the time. Also interesting to find that his father fought on the German side during the war and this memory influenced the Redbreast.

I think I was almost last in the queue to get my book signed, I asked Jo if he got cramp signing so many but he is a seasoned pro.

I think that the last time I went to a talk by an author was when Martina invited me to go and see Cormac McCarthy. That was thanks to Simply Books in Bramhall, I think all the way back in 2008? Seems like a lifetime ago.

Now off to start reading, so excited to find out what is next for Harry Hole :)

Decathlon Sport Series

Seems like they used a picture of me running in last years Decathlon sports series on the advertising for this year!I am famous, if anybody wants my autograph I'll be at the next Decathlon sport series at Woodbank in Stockport :)

Clayton Vale Easy Rider

Today Kath and I headed to Clayton Vale, a purpose built mountain bike track next to the National Cycling centre in Manchester.

We started off following the easy rider blue trail to get the feel for the track. Then took a second loop round the more challenging Newton Heath Sidewinder. The sidewinder is more challenging with berms, cheeky adverse cambers interspersed with short, sharp climbs and descents. Kath did a great job navigating the tracks.

We finished with a well earned coffee in the Velopark cafe.

10000 days of the web

Belfast

Kath and I decided to head to Belfast for the weekend. We flew out Friday morning on easy jet arriving just after 9. Taking the bus from the international airport to the town centre, then a short walk to the Hilton Hotel by the waterfront.

Saturday morning we headed out to do a parkrun at the Waterworks. Then headed out along the coastal road to have a look at the dark hedges, rope bridge and giants causeway.

The coastal road was spectacular a really lovely drive, providing epic sea backdrops.
 
Dark hedges is a famous tree lined scene that has been the backdrop for many films and TV shops including Game of Thrones.

The rope bridge (Carrick a Rede) was erected by Salmon fishermen as a way of crossing to Rathlin Island. There was a huge queue to get across, but it was well worth it when we did, epic vistas over the coast.

Dark Hedges

Kath on the Ropebridge

Giants causeway

 

DevWeek 2016

I was fortunate to be able to attend DevWeek 2016 at the Westminster Hall in London. This year I got to hear talks from Microsoft, Google and a lot of leading industry experts.

There were a few themes of the week, at least for the lecture which I attended. I was mostly interested in the Web technologies, so it was interesting to hear about the new frameworks vying for attention especially reactjs and angular. It was also interesting to hear a contract from google, apps have great engagement but its hard to get people to use them. Whereas the web has a low engagement but people can easily access content. There is basically an attempt to converge them by improving the ability to search inside applications. Whereas the browsers are playing catchup to be able to provide the same functionality as applications.

My favourite talk of the week was from Sander Hoogendoorn titled "Beyond breaking bad: the current state of Agile in 10 easy lessons". It was a thought provoking talk which echoed many things I have thought about our own agile process. Fortunately we don't have red sprints, but was are terrible at estimates!

Manchester Marathon

In spite of the knee problems I've been suffering in the past few weeks, I managed to run the

Kath and I pre race

Manchester Marathon in 4:29:32.

Its a weird feeling the culmination of 5 months of training.

The day started off cold, we had to scrape ice off the car, and at Parrs Wood metrolink station I had to wipe ice off the metrolink map in order to be able to count the stops.

Arriving at Old Trafford Cricket club we were greeted with hoards of people milling around in chaotic fashion. There large queues of people as there weren't enough loos. The queue for the baggage drop was so stupid that we decided Kath would take my stuff.

I was slightly late for the start but that didn't matter as unlike the Great Manchester run the start was simply a rolling one the waves meaningless. Undaunted I started off, at first it was hard to run as the crowds were so thick, but as the miles went by it all opened up. I overtook the 4:30 pacer and the 4:15 pace team, and was pretty happy about everything.

Post race with Erdinger

I was running really well round and out of Manchester towards Sale than Altrincham, I even passed by my office. The sun came out and by 2 hours a in the cold had been replaces by glorious sunshine. Unfortunately I started to overheat a little. The long sleeve top I had felt cold in only an hour before was now too hot. I carried on looping back past the 16 mile point. At 18 miles though I started to feel very tired my pace dropped and I was overtaken by the 4:15 pacer. I was hot and tired but determined to finish, I ran / jogged to the end, the last 3 miles felt longer than the proceeding 23. When I spotted the finish line it was just under a mile to go, I tried to keep running, but finished at a jog just under the 4:30 mark.

At the finish line I grabbed my Erdinger alkoholfrei, medal and goody bag then met Kath, Jo, Holly and Autumn. Jo's sister Lauren was also running, she was three minutes faster than me!

I felt great in mind but my body felt wreaked, my knee pain was back with vengeance, so after a brief chat with fellow runner Aleksandra and her partner Graeme, Kath and I headed home. Though we did stop at McDonalds to refuel!

After a few hours rest Kath and I headed back into Manchester to have dinner with  Aleksandra and Graeme. We ate at Bills restaurant on Deansgate a lovely and eclectic diner with very friendly staff. They gave us our dessert complimentary after we told the waitress we had run the marathon. The puddings were delicious, I had treacle tart and it was excellent.

Alive

This weekend Anya and Silvio visited us. It was a bit of a whirlwind trip they arrived on Friday night after travelling up from Cambridge. Unfortunately Kath was working and unable to switch shifts. They both arrived late so we got a take out curry from Ayo Gurkali.

They bought us an amazing gift of two Tassen bowls with faces, I already enjoyed eating my cereal out of them.

Saturday Kath was still working, I took Anya and Silvio on a tour of Manchester. We took the train to Piccadilly then walked into town. Starting on Dale Street at the Nexus At cafe before waling round the triangle then to the Cathedral. From there Kind street via St Annes Square  to the Town hall. Lunching in the Waterhouse before heading to Chinatown to see the Arch then on to the Museum of Science and Industry. We went to view the exhibition on Cravings. I found it quite interesting, it reinforced some of the things I saw on Trust me I am a Doctor. Basically gut microbes have a huge effect of digestion, and ultimately on health. One really interesting gadget was a digital device which was able to stimulate different tastes an flavours by using electrodes on applied to the tongue. Imagine this together with one of the virtual reality systems you could really be immersed in a virtual world, I hope this wont result in the Matrix scenario!

It was really nice to have Silvo and Anya over, it has been to long since we last met at Pauls stag do in Berlin. Hopefully it won't be so long until the next time we meet up.

Today I had the Oulton Park half marathon. Six laps of the race track got a little monotonous by lap 6 I was glad to finish, even if my time was a little of my best pace set in Glasgow. This time though my training is more about distance than pace so unsurprising that the speed was lower. I really liked the medal though, in the shape of a chequered flag.

Missed the boat

Saturday evening Kath and I hosted a gathering with Matt, Christelle and Nina. Bruce would have come but was working setting up a huge disk array.

Kath spent the day cooking various Tex Mex dishes, inspired by a recent trip to Chiquito. For starters She made tostadas, with toppings of pulled pork, sweet potato with feta, and Choritzo. There was a side of home made guacamole and sweetcorn salad. For the main we had chilli with potato wedges. I spent the day cleaning the house and doing some DIY. Amazing how the little jobs build up.

Nina arrived first, Connie spending the night at grandparents. She seemed in a good mood we had a chat about Phil's big news while eating doritos and waiting for Matt. As a FU to Jeremy Hunt and the Suns outrageous Moet medic article we started the evening with two bottles of Champaign. A little extravagant but a celebration of Kaths job.

It was a nice relaxed evening, everybody seemed to enjoy Kaths food, I was very impressed with what she pulled off.

Sunday morning I felt a little hung over which wasn't a great help for my marathon training. I managed to get to 17 miles but then I had to stop. I made it home a little later than planned as we were hosting my parents for Mexican leftovers. They seemed to enjoy the chilli, and it was nice to make a meal for them for a change.

Last night we went to see the Revenant. Personally I didn't enjoy it, while the cinematography and acting were good there were far too many contemplative moments, it was overall way too long and I still don't understand how if the Indian Rea were such amazing trackers they were unable to find either Glass or Powaqa. I have however been enjoying the Meerkat movies offers with Kath, Overall the fact that its both Tuesday and Wednesday makes it an even better offer than Orange Wednesday (even if there is a small charge to book).

The big short

Kath and I used Meerkat movies to got and see the big short. A film about the reasons behind the huge financial crash of 2008, and the few voices who predicted it. I though that it is a great film which manages to turn the boring financial subjects into an understandable and interesting backdrop for a film.

In short banks got rich selling bundles of loans off as Collateralized debt obligations, these bundles of loans were sold as containing good mortgages with low default rates. Unfortunately over time the banks got greedy and found ways to bundle increasingly bad loans, until they included loans for NINJAs (Not in a Job Applicants). The ratings agencies kept putting A grade on and the deals went on and on until in 2008 the liabilities started to get called in and the whole system collapsed. 

It brought me back to 2005 when I worked for a broker business in the UK. The government was bringing in the Consumer Credit Act 2006. Among other things made it included requirement for loan documentation to show the total amount that was repayable. I vividly remember one moment during the user acceptance phase, in which we showed the updated documents to some of the end users.

I went to the leader of one of the sales teams, and she asked if the figures were correct. I said of course, the calculation is simple for a fixed rate loan. You multiple the payments by the period and deduct the original borrowing, giving the total amount payable in interest. She then said, she didn't believe it, the amount looked too high. So I asked her to grab a calculator, multiply the payment by the 300 month term and deduct the original borrowing. She was very surprised by the result, bear in mind they specialised in consolidation loans which were in 2006 expensive (between 7 - 12% interest). She did sell them all day long so I was surprised how little grasp of the costs she had. What really surprised me though was as I walked away she said "Well the lenders never expect them to pay it back anyway". At the time I thought what a weird thing to say, but now in the context that these loans would probably have ended up in CDO's the market for this being bigger than the profit on the loan in fact the bank didn't care too much! An insane system no wonder it failed.

Civilization

I've just finished Civilization: The Six Killer Apps of Western Power by Nial Ferguson. He makes some compelling arguments for the success of the Western world over the the rest. He terms the six killer apps

• Competition
• Science
• Medicine
• The Rule of Law
• Consumption
• Work Ethic

I broadly agree with his thesis and there is some interesting historical fact backing up the arguments. I found the bit about the protestant work ethic a bit of a stretch, but overall a really good read. It made me wonder if we really are seeding our own destruction by allowing the erosion of the rule of law and failing to instil a good level of education on the masses.

I got an example yesterday when my colleague and I were talking about a sugar free drink, I related a piece from BBC TV's Trust me I'm a doctor, in which they showed that saccharine an artificial sweetener can cause (in some people) a rise in blood sugar. At which point another colleague piped in "yeah because the Nazis experimented on the Jews with aspartame". I know what your thinking, saccharine is a different sweetener than aspartame! I'm not sure where on earth she got this one from. the NAZI's did indeed experiment on the Jews in terrible human trials. Not however with aspartame, given it wasn't actually synthesised until 1964, nearly 20 years after the second world war ended.

I put together a timeline;

• 1879 Saccharin discovered
• 1^st September, 1939 Start of World War 2 establishment of Jewish Ghettos
• 17^th July 1941 Hitler gives Himmler responsibility to eliminate “any perceived threat to German Rule
• October 1941 OPERATION REINHARD sees upto 2 million Jews killed across Europe
• Spring 1942 establishment of Auschwitz-Birkenau as  a mass killing facility, in which 1 million Jews were murdered mostly using poison gas Zyklon B
• 1^st August 1944 Warsaw uprising, the aftermath of which led to the Germans raising the entire city of Warsaw. Up to 200,000 people were executed. There included soldiers, Jews and Polish civilians who harboured Jews
• 9^th May 1945 Victory in Europe
• 2^nd September, 1945 End of World War 2 following atomic bombs being dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
• 25^th June 1950 Start of Korean War
• 27^th July 1953 Division of Korea
• December 1965, while James Schlatter was re-crystalling aspartame from ethanol, the mixture spilled onto the outside of the flask. Some of the powder got onto his fingers. Later, when he licked his fingers to pick up a piece of paper, he noticed a very strong sweet taste.

Sunburn

Judging by this year's presents haul I have successfully transitioned from a couch potatoe to a runner. I got a run light from Kath to shine a light in dark places, a useful pouch and drinking bottle from Paul and Saskia. It s all useful as I train for my first marathon in April. Yep you read that correctly, I have signed up to run 26.2 miles. So far my longest distance is 15 miles but I have a couple of months to train so hopefully I will make it.

Bruce must think I am destined for a life of crime, he gave me an amazing see through padlock and a set of lock picks.

Regardless of the presents it was a special Christmas  for me as Kath and I spend our first ever Christmas day together. Previously she had always been working. Its been a year of changes for us, Kath moved over to the UK for good in March. Then just this month she started her first job in the UK at the Countess of Chester hospital. I could not be more proud of her.

We went to see my parents on Christmas day they made the traditional meal, whether it was because Kath was joining us for the first time the meal was spectacular. The turkey cooked to perfection and even though he nearly forgot to give us the potatoes they were done to perfection.

Two pieces of transport related news today, I contacted TfGM to enquire whether there were any plans to port the excellent journey planner to mobile devices.

Great news;

I am pleased to advise you that TfGM are currently building and testing new travel planning tools. At the end of this year we will have scheduled travel information on the TfGM website.
We will then build on this in early 2016 by including real-time information for bus, train and tram. At this time, we will also enable customers to register for updates on services they are interested in; notifications and information on updates will come to you via email, text alerts and push alerts to mobile apps. This service will enable customers to receive information regarding cancellations or delays for services they have registered for.
This information will be available on the TfGM website and will be mobile friendly. Along with this, TfGM will also be delivering dedicated mobile apps on iOS Apple devices, Android and Windows Phone.
Additionally, real-time data will be integrated into information displays at the more recent TfGM interchanges; however, real-time data will not be available at bus stops. Updates on this will be found on the TfGM website in the near future:

In addition to this, Manchesters' smart card for transport 'getmethere card' is too be made available for bus travel. You can load getmethere with the SystemOne travel cards. You can order a getmethere card for free (for a limited time). It seems to be accepted by most bus companies operating in Manchester.

The bay

One of the things which differentiate humans from animals is our ability to learn not just from our own experiences but to be able to learn from others.

Kath is proving her abilities this morning doing her specialisation exam in Warsaw. I am here too sat in the hotel bar waiting for her to return. I have very faith in her abilities but exams are fickle, all questions are easy when we know the answers. I have my fingers crossed for her.

We arrived on Tuesday night, taking an Uber from the airport to the hotel. It was the first time I used uber and I was very impress with the service. Not only do you know where and when you driver will arrive but you also follow a real time map to your destination which stops the driver taking the scenic route. You get a free credit if you follow my link to sign up.

After arriving in the middle of the night we decided to have a long lie in and take a lazy day to relax before the stress of the exam. We wondered around the largest mall in Warsaw, then in the evening went for a burger at Cwiercfuciak. Its an excellent burger joint, and very friendly too.

Afterwards we retired to the bar for a relaxing drink. I don't know how Kath slept but I tossed and turned, I think I am more stressed for her then she is for herself. I had lots of dreams about the past, things that were, and things that could have been. I guess we are all products of what we have done and what we learn from.

I am currently reading Five Star Billionaire, its about the lives of several different characters diverging set in the backdrop of a thriving but dangerous Shanghai. It took em back to travelling there, the combination of extremes the modern colliding with the past, the throngs of people everywhere all striving.

I think I might have overdone it a little

In the last few weeks we have been very busy. It started with a trip to Snowdon to celebrate our second wedding anniversary.

We have become parkrun junkies since we started running together a few months ago. With the drive to Wales on Saturday we didn't want to miss out on our weekly fix of free 5KM run. I planned ahead and on our journey to Wales we stopped off to take park in the Conwy parkrun. Conwy was excellent, the run started at the lovely bird sanctuary then out along the river up to the castle before continuing along the river before looping back. It is a flat and fast track which I managed to get within two seconds of my personal best and so did Kath. After the run we enjoyed a coffee while admiring the view of the Wildlife park. It was very picturesque. So as not to be sweat we went for a shower at the nearby Conwy leisure centre before continuing on to Bangor for lunch.

Kath and I lunched at bar called The Feral Cat, I had a huge Feral Cat burger and it was fantastic and well deserved after all the excercise we have done. As the check in at the hotel was in the late afternoon we decided not to waste the day and go to visit Penryhn castle. It is an incredible place, a huge castle to wonder around complete with a small railway museum on to the side. It was like something out of Downton Abbey and to be honest impressed Kath and I more than our recent visit to Holyrood Palace. It was certainly a lot quieter and easy to enjoy looking around, but its so well kept and full of interesting bits to see. Also (as it really paid off) we became members of National Trust, looking forward to local Cheshire (and not only) adventures, especially Lyme Hall for free!

Cookies on top of Snowdon

After wandering round the castle and gardens we set off to Llanberis. We checked into the Y Gwennedd Inn. It is a small independent inn right in the centre of the village. The staff were really friendly but there were a few niggles with dodgy repair work, our shower head was held up with gaffer tape!

On Sunday Kath and I enjoyed the generous full English breakfast before heading out to make the long walk up Snowdon's Llanberis path. The path is 8 km from the Inn to the summit. At the top of Snowdon we reached 1044 meters above sea level. Unfortunately the weather wasn't the best. The visibility at the top was less than 100 meters. On the way down the rain hit us hard lashing down and turning the pathway into a river! What was really incredible was the number of people walking up a mountain completely unprepared for the moody forecast. The weather report was warning of high chance of rain and wind, yet they chose to walk in trainers and not bring waterproofs but umbrellas instead, incredibly stupid!

The day after we both felt pretty exhausted, but it was our anniversary! Two years and we are as happy as ever. We headed off home, stopping once more at Conwy for a walk around the walls and the town. It has been years since I spent any time in the town. We had a great time wandering around. We made one more stop on the way home at Cheshire Oaks. I treated Kath to a new pair of running trainers for our cotton anniversary, as she really wore off the old pair.

Panoramic of Conwy Harbour

To finish our anniversary we headed out to the Odeon Screen Unseen in Trafford Centre. The film they played was Me Earl and the dying girl. Screen Unseen is a cheap ticket price but you have no idea what the film will be. We were lucky as it was an excellent film we both enjoyed and a great way to round off our day.

Today was Cycle to Work Day 2015 so I cycled into the office, it is about 9 miles each way. After getting home to stay on track with my training plan I went out for a run, it was only 8.5KM but I really struggled and had to stop and buy a Lucozade to get the energy to finish. Fortunately apart from a drop on the 5KM I managed to make it at a reasonable pace.

Fitbit

Just wanted to write a post about how good fitbit customer support are. After buying my surge I absolutely loved it. Not only does it track steps, stairs climbs, and calories burned but it also has GPS to accurately track runs. I sync it with strava to get distance speed, terrain and maps, along with time.

Anyway I have been super happy with my surge, right upto unto Friday morning when after cycling the 10 miles to work I found that my surge had condensation behind the screen.  Given Surge is supposed to be waterproof up to 5 atmospheres I was more than a little surprised.

I contacted fitbit via there web support, and after a short conversation the agent arranged for a new unit to be sent out to me in 10-14 days. It was so simple, I cannot recommend fitbit enough right now.

In contrast, I ordered a TrackR from expansys. A trackR is a GPS locator which is suppose to let you tag something and track it so stop it getting lost. It arrived and basically is useless. It wont sync with either my One Plus One android phone nor with Kaths Iphone 6. I tried to contact expansys for an RMA, no response as yet other than a stock your message will be answered email. Very disappointing.

Woodbank running

Yesterday Kath and I met up with Helen for a parkrun in Woodley. It was a lovely sunny morning, though a little on the warm side for putting in a personal best so I settled for 25:59 64th place. Its quite a good parkrun, starting off from the athletics track going round Woodbank park then into Vernon Park, then looping round once more before finishing back at the track. The drop then climb in Vernon Park is very challenging.

My car was in for some work at Nissan nearby so it was a convenient parkrun, but also a good one with nice views of Stockport on the run downhill in Vernon Park.

I had the rear brakes and bushes changes along with a new Xenon bulb, all told an expensive morning, made better thanks to the running.

Kath and I spent the evening playing some games, I tried to teach her how to play Mario Kart.

Play it: Manchester

On Friday evening Kath and I headed into Manchester to visit Play it. An exhibition of computer gaming over the last 30 years. With everything from Classic systems, like the BBC micro including Atari, Commodore and Spectrum, Megadrive, SNES and Nintendo 64 through to PC, PlayStation and Xbox. To the ultra modern demos using Oculus rift.

I got to relive my childhood playing Mario Kart, PacMan, and Goldeneye amongst others.

Kath had never seen some of the computers and games before, a legacy of growing up behind the iron curtain. It was great watching her playing Sonic the hedgehog, collecting rings and blazing round at hyperspeed.

Kath also enjoyed the classic BBC Micro, as shown in the picture.

After the exhibition we went for a Byron burger in Piccadilly Gardens. Before running to catch the train home, an exciting evening!

A run in the park

This morning I did my twelve parkrun, at Woodbank in Stockport. parkrun is a great concept, every week at 9am on a Saturday there are free timed 5KM runs in parks all over England. Everything is done by volunteers using free public spaces. Since I started I have visited several in the local area including Bramhall, Wilmslow, and Wythenshaw. We even managed a leisurely jog in Edinburgh. Any ability level can take part in a parkrun even, from a super fast 16 minutes to simply walking the course in 50 minutes.

My first parkrun was Cheadle Hulme back in September 2014. I managed 5km in just under 30 minutes, 29:43. Todays effort my second best parkrun to date was 25:37. I suppose 4 minutes isn't a bad improvement in just under a year.

I got Kath into it too she has run 11, catching me up by one when I volunteered as a Marshal at Wilmslow.

Since starting parkrun I have done several other runs including the excellent Great Manchester Run. With an excellent atmosphere I and 39,999 other runners took to the streets of Manchester for  a 10km race. My time was 54.58 which for a 35 year old who spends most of his life sat behind a screen isn't too bad at all. Hopefully with a bit a of practise I can improve next year. I certainly find that I run faster in a group of people than when I am on my own. I guess I just havent learned to pace myself nor push myself hard enough.

Distant Past

After enjoying watching the Vulcan last week we fancied some more. Fortunately for us Sunday was Manchester Airshow 2015. Kath and I headed to Manchester City airport at Barton for the show.

There was a park and ride scheme so we parked at the Trafford Centre and took the bus to the airport. We arrived just in time to catch the BAC Strikemaster.  The show was split into two parts, with 5 displays in each.

The Strikemaster couldn't use the grass airfield at Barton. It jetted around the sky.  Next up was the Pitts S1S Special flown by Lauren Richardson, she put on a fantastic display of acrobatics. Lauren was followed by Steve Caver in the Special 260.

Changing tack then the Huey helicopter made us feel like we were extras on M.A.S.H.  then the air total Gyrocopter proved that I still don't really understand how gyro copter fly. They do fly exceptionally well, putting on a great display.

Finally to end the first part of the show the Battle of Britain display of a spitfire and a hurricane. They were incredible still looking great and they put on a good show flying together in formation then breaking to put on individual displays.

In between the displays we decided to grab a bite to eat as it was 13:00. Unfortunately they facilities provided were somewhat in inadequate. It took us over 1 hour in the queue during which the weather changed from blazing sunshine to overcast. The queue were worse for the ladies toilets stretching back as far the eye could see. Overall the display was great but they really need some more people organising on the ground and more toilets and food stands otherwise people wont come back.

We watched the start of the second act while in the queue, the chinook was particularly impressive. A colleague informed me that unless its regularly tuned two rotors produce so much torque it rips them in two!

We had planned on staying until the death but after eating the heavens opened and the rain came down. We made our way to the bus back getting soaked. Good old Britain, sunburn and a soaking all in one day.

Vulcan to the Sky

Yesterday Kath and I went to a very crowded Woodford to watch possibly the final flyover of a Vulcan bomber XH558.

The Vulcan was built at Woodford factory by AV Roe and had service in the RAF from 1956 until 1984.

Designed as a strategic strike bomber it relied on speed and high altitudes rather than onboard weaponry to avoid detection.

Its primary use was as a nuclear deterrent, and was therefore made more or less redundant with the introduction of the Trident nuclear submarines.

The Vulcans were used in operations in during the Falklands conflict.

It was a day tinged with sadness that the aircraft factory is now mostly demolished and nothing like this will be build again at the site.

Edinburgh

Kath and I travelled to Edinburgh on Thursday morning after the Foo Fighters concert. It is a long drive, having enjoyed the gig a lot the night before, we listened to most of the Foo Fighters albums en route and then moved onto the the Manic Street Preachers Holy Bible.

It was the first time Kath had listened to whole album and I made her read the lyrics. It is a dark album full, but cleverly written so I hoped she would like it.

We arrived and checked into the hotel. Then, curious of what was out there, took the 15 minute walk to the town centre, we strolled through some of the Royal Mile before finding somewhere to eat. Fancying something spicy we tried out the Gurkha cafe and restaurant. It was excellent Nepalese food, even better than the Ayo Gurkhali back home in Wilmslow. Feeling full but not ready for bed we decided to go and watch a film. There was a small Odeon cinema hiding underneath a restaurant on the way back to our hotel. We watched the modern remake of Poltergeist, it passed the time for our tired brains. Then went back to the hotel for a well deserved rest.

Our first full day in Edinburgh we headed to the Castle, starting with the excellent free walking tour then exploring the many buildings there, including the Scottish Crown Jewels.

After the Castle we decided to grab a bite to eat at the Albanach. A charming pub restaurant on the Royal Mile. While eating our fish and chips Kath got her IELTS results, which she passed brilliantly! With an extra spring in our step, food and a few drinks in our belly we walked along the Royal Mile to Holyrood. There we had a wonder the very modern Scottish Parliament building on our way to the Palace.

The Palace was impressive however its mostly faded glamour, the grandeur was put in a long time ago and is simply maintained. It was interesting to see the place where Mary Queen of Scots lived and her confidante David Rizzio was killed.

In spite of all the walking we decided to go on an evening ghost tour. There are many walking tours which tell about the dark heart of Edinburgh, stories about the body snatchers Burke and Hare, the disputed final resting place of David Rizzo and infamous villains of the Cowgate were all brought to life by our guide. It is clear there is a lot of grizzly history to draw on.

Saturday we planned to see the Manics in the evening, but we started the day by going on the Edinburgh parkrun. It was the best parkrun we had done so far, taking place outside the city on the Cramond/Silverknowes Promenade. We took it easy and enjoyed jogging in such nice surroundings and glorious weather.

After a shower and a change, we spend the day taking in the Scottish National Gallery. There are some amazing works in there including those by Rembrandt, Turner, and Degas. It is large and took us quite some time to walk around.

In the evening we went out for some sushi before heading to Usher Hall. Usher Hall is quite an impressive building, we had seating on the top but the view was good. Unfortunately the seats were pretty uncomfortable, I was actually glad that there was an interlude so I could stretch my legs.

The Manics did a full rendition of the Holy Bible complete with 90's era costumes. Then a set of their greatest hits. I really enjoyed the venom of the Holy Bible you can see how much they have changed especially songs like Your Love Is Not Enough.

Everlong

Wednesday Night Kath and I started our mini break to Edinburgh in Manchester as went to see the Foo Fighters at Old Trafford Cricket club.

I had a bit of back ache thanks to an over enthusiastic training session at the gym. The painkillers meant that I couldn't drink so we opted to drive to Didsbury and catch the metro to Trafford park from there.

Kath has never been to a stadium gig before, so I was excited taking her. I little dismayed that the weather was true to Manchester form, rain! Fortunately just before the start of the gig the rain lightened then petered out.

We arrived early at 7 but weren't in time to catch the support acts. The Foos started early with a promise they wold play as long as possible with no encore. The set list was amazing starting off with Everlong, and covering all there hits. They also did a set of covers including an amazing version of Queens under pressure with Taylor Hawkins doing a perfect Freddy Mercury.

Filing out of the concert with 40,000 people our ears were ringing but we had smiles on our faces. Joe B posted on Facebook he could hear the concert 5 miles away in Levenshulme.

Tears in the rain

Kath and I have been having a few days of cinema. On Sunday after a lovely BBQ at Bruce's house we headed to Odeon to watch Avengers Age of Ultron.

Bruce and Nina had put on a great spread, smoked beef, chilli and other tex mex style dishes. It was great to see them and Connie, even is she did cry after Nina made me hold her. Ian and Helen turned up which was a nice surprise, Helen put Kath and I to shame by doing parkrun while we sat in bed. Joe and Holly look like they might be moving home soon which is exciting, and of course Nick and Charlotte, who didn't attend the BBQ are getting married next Saturday.

We watched Avengers on IMAX at the printworks. It was well worth spending the money on such a visual feast. I really enjoyed the film in spite of a few hammy moments, and odd pacing it was an entertaining watch.

Last night was a different sort of film altogether, one I am not sure would be made today. We went to see the Final Cut of Blade Runner. In spite of it being one of the seminal films defining the way futuristic films looked for over two decades Kath had never seen it. Its starting to get a bit dated now, the dire predictions of a future 2019 when Los Angeles is under a constant cloud and humans are colonising space using replicant slaves.

Replicants are banned on Earth and Deckard the main character played by Harrison Ford is a replicant assassin or Blade Runner. Deckard is tasked with hunting down several replicants including a Nexus 6 the newest and most powerful form played by Rutger Hauer. Along the way we meet Raphael, a Nexus 6 who doesn't realise she is not human thanks to implanted memories.

Panned in its initial release in 1982, the film has become a cult classic. While some directors cough George Lucas have steadily diluted their original vision the re-cutting of Blade runner has made it an even more enjoyable film, increasing the tension and immersion of the futuristic world.

The replicants force us to ask existential questions about ourselves, they are more real, more physical with an artificially short lifespan. what makes them less human, is it because humans designed them even though they are superior to humans in physically and in some cases mentally. Towards the end of the film Rutger Hauers' character tells Deckard he has seen things that he can only dream of, in some way the replicant being more than human.

One question I have wondered is whether Deckard is a replicant? At one point Racheal asks him if he has ever taken the test used to differentiate replicants from Humans. The police chief also refers to him as a killing machine after retiring one of the replicants.

Even if in the 1980's predicted the city of the future 2019 would have flying cars but still use payphones and photographs, it is an incredible vision which still looks unique and is one of my favourite films.

Changes

Two weeks ago saw the end of our five years of wait. Kasia said goodbye to Poland and moved to the UK. I went over to Poland, helped her pack up the last of her clothes into suitcases, and we had meet ups with her friends there to say goodbye. Kath was pretty emotional on Saturday night as we said by bye to her close friends, I hope some of them will visit us in the UK before too long.

Back in the UK it has been quite an adventure so far. Trying to reorganise the house a bit and fit everything in has led to no less than four trips to Ikea. Initially the idea was to use a company to make a custom wardrobe, we contacted Sliderobes whom have a local office in Stanley Green. However the prices we were quoted were pretty steep to start with and rose quickly as we configured the interior. In the end we worked out that we could have a very similar Ikea wardrobe with all the extras and have enough money left over to buy a new desk, chair for Kath and to pimp up my old wardrobe putting in a light divider and trouser rack. Our fantastic new PAX wardrobe was complete with mirrored sliding doors, lights, and draws including a special cufflink jewellery drawer. It is a little smaller than the alternative but at 1/4 of the cost we lose only a few square feet.

Kath helped me to clear out my office, tons of old books and wires finally going away. The spare room is now set up for Kath, with her text books, desk and chair.

Apart from furniture building we have been enjoying ourselves catching up with people, we took my mum and dad out for mothers day for a great meal at the Bull Head.  Kath has been studying for the IELTs exam she must take before she is able to get a licence to practice as a doctor in the UK.

Craptops

I bought my dad a new laptop for Christmas, a little HP it was really cheap but surprisingly capable of running all the sorts of application he needs.

The only disappointing thing about it was the amount of junk software installed. Not just lots of useless apps put actually dodgy apps ready to hurt the unwary. For the first time I saw an uninstalled which on one of the steps actually installed more software! Basically relying on the social engineering that most people just keep hitting next then end up with yet more crap ware to remove. If I was head of HP I would not want this junk of my hardware, it just makes it look crumby, certainly the repetitional damage is not worth the few quid they advertisers are paying.

It not just hardware manufactures getting caught out though. I recently fixed my barbers laptop and like a lot of computers I see it had all sort of dodgy browser extensions installed. It displayed fake adverts for Adobe flash which installed yes you've guessed it more junk software. The laptop was so full of this junk as to be unusable. These programs are for some reason not recognised as viruses, in spite of their virus like behaviour, changing settings ruining the user experience and driving the user to specific pages for finance gain. I am unsure why this junk is allowed to exist.

Overall I have to hand it to Apple, every Mac which I have used comes with software that enhances the computer not just to sell advertising space. There is a hell of a lot less of this junk which affects Apple.

Road to Sata

I just got a message from fitbit to tell me that I have now recorded enough steps to walk the length of Japan 3,007. It reminded me of a book I read some years ago, when I was trying to learn Japanese.
The books were The Roads to Sata: A 2000-mile Walk Through Japan by Alan Booth. His first book written while he was living as a writer living in Japan. He basically set off on a strange journey across Japan on foot. Charting his experiences, anecdotes of the people and places he met on the road intermingled with historic information. It is a very good book, full of fantastic characters and a real product of its age the 1980's when Japan was conquering the world before the crash and the stagnation which followed.

I never did get very far with my Japanese course, after the first two enjoyable semesters the third went down hill after the college amalgamated two classes. Strangely later to just like my Polish course also hit the buffers after three semesters thanks to a lack of students.

I am really looking forward to the release of the Fitbit Surge which should mean I can wear that instead of the two devices I use now when running; my current Fitbit flex and Alpha Mio heart rate monitor. The flex has been a great device and having a fitness tracker really does help to motivate me to get out more often, however its not got a watch and its annoying to wear two devices.