KOS: Day 2

Day at the beach on the sun lounges, getting brown/red. Lovely relaxing day followed by an explore past the nudist beach to the salt plains.

Tore up our legs trawling through the sharp plantage and then got to the salt. My word it was weird. And we started sinking towards the middle of the lake. Arg. It seemed the only way out was through a sludgy bog stinking of sewage. Katie dives straight in, black sludge submerging and claiming her flip flops. I jump in to rescue them. Both our feet are pitted with thick black treacle.

We trudge back to hotel, a source of great amusement to all the locals who glanced at our feet.

Out on the balcony again, trying to improve my memory Derren Brown style.

Katie has some severe swelling in her hand and above her left eye. It looks more like I have beaten her up than an insect bite.

Go out for a lovely meal with an over friendly (but probably just lonely) English waitress who is very helpful but incapable of listening to a word we say!

We turn down her offer of a night on the cocktails and head back to the hotel around 1am.

KOS: First day

Arrived at 6 in the morning after little to no sleep on the plane. All we wanted to do was sleep. So we did. mmmmm.

Woke around 1 and headed down the strip of bars and tavernas to the beach. Looking good.

They have day trips to Turkey for only €25! Spoke to the rep who advised us about this and that.

Chilled on the balcony watching the sunset and the pink sky. Drank wine and played cards. Very nice.

Went out for our first meal, very cheap and of good quality. Whole meal including wine and liqueur coffee came to €25!

Can’t find any wifi anywhere, going a bit crazy not keeping up with the Olympic medal table. Are Britain still third!?

Stuck under a tree

The rain is falling and here I am, cowering under a tree as I watch the other bikers brave the wet. It’s just started thundering.

I am back home now, (I was under for 40 minutes). I managed to entertain myself my going to my facebook app and seeing who was online for a chat. Spoke to Si Blood, my old uni mate and Jodi, a friend from Budapest. Then I commented on some photos someone had just posted and then I checked the latest tech news on my RSS reader.

I also geo-located myself for a zoomed in satellite view of my surroundings.

I love my iPhone!

Anyway, why was I biking to Sloane Square in the rain? Well of course I wanted to see if I could beat the quickest possible time I can get to school using public transport.

I missed the 40 minute target by 3 minutes! I am certain I can beat this time quite considerably. I took a leisurely pace and did not take the most direct route. I was also getting used to the bike lanes and negotiating huge roundabouts like the famous beast at Elephant and Castle.

As always, click the photo for the full photoset.

Photoshopping

Tried a very quick and rough manipulate of this photograph, which I particularly like. Notice how I have removed all poles and machinery from the centre of the photo.

The new Photoshop has some very powerful tools which can save a considerable amount of time:

Lights for photography

I’m still trying to get a nice shot of my our room which includes the view. One thing I think would help improve the inside is some external lighting. I am often pointing lamps but they don’t have the power or the direction. I need to investigate. Amazon is calling.

Cycle around Canary Wharf

A grey day turned into marvelous blue skies just as I happened upon “Little Manhattan”. My first real bike ride in London and I am excited! I just hope the weather holds for the next few days.

Here are a few of my favourite pics from the day:

(from now on if you want the full photoset just click one of the photos)

The disappearing view of the O2 Dome

Day by day the view slowly succumbs to the hungry buildings:

Is democracy such a good idea?

What with China racing around the world generously funding countries that don’t have it and the US pouring money into any country that does, which political ideology is right? And is there such a thing as right and wrong In this case?

We can’t choose our parents after all, and we trust them …

Does our constant swing from left to right ensure constant progress is maintained?

We have thousands of minds. Minds contributing essential wise, helping to develop world leading practices. 

 
But we also have millions of minds. Minds shaped by a comparatively small media …

London Mela

Went to the London Mela today with Katie.

Rode on an exciting rollercoaster, had excellent food, and listened to some great music and poetry. Torrential rainfall put an end to the day. I was wrong to suggest an umbrella was a waste of time!

I really like the fact that many cultures have their own, huge, festivals in London throughout the year. Inclusion inclusion inclusion!

25 Mile Walk

So Egg and I set off from Basildon on our mamouth journey to Aragon Tower. The planning amounted to: looking on Google Earth to see how far it was (28 miles) and trying to memorise the route given. We soon realised when stuck in the middle of our first field with no idea which direction to be walking that this was perhaps not the most adequate of preparations.

Yes we had my GPS enabled iPhone which was essential, but the lack of a physical map for those times when GPS would not work was a great hinderance. The time it took to get the phone out of my pocket and then for it to locate us meant we only used it when in real need.

It was a brilliant walk. The one time it decided to rain heavily, we happened across “the best pub in the world” (their words not ours) which also happended to be in “the best village in the world”. Two places we would not have come across had we been using a map.

And that was what we wanted really: a great walk, roughly planned with lots of surprises.

Unfortunately the lack of planning meant we did not complete the journey despite walking the correct distance!

After having walked for 10 and a half hours we were still around half way to Aragon Tower and were being forced to walk in the opposite direction to London due to the frustrating layout of an industrial park.

Lessons to be learnt? If you are going to tackle a SERIOUS endeavour, plan it properly and take a map!

And maybe leave out the pub in favour of a raincoat!

As always the full photoset is available on flickr