July 28, 2006
Merhaba from Konya
Hard to believe my first week is over. So much to do, but I was determined to get into Konya to have a proper day off, get some groceries, go the hammam and just generally get off the site.
Nothing unusual to report. Organising stuff to travel around the Ukraine has taken so much more time than I actually have, which is a bit of a bummer. Hopefully we're getting there now, at this stage I don't really care what I do as long as I can get to Lviv in time to get to Krakow and I don't get thrown off any trains for not having the right visa.
I'm going to have lunch with a bunch of people from site near the Mevlana museum then do some shopping. It's amazing how exciting grocery shopping seems right now! The food on site is pretty good, but I miss variety.
July 22, 2006
Have a nasty cold but at least I haven't got the bug that's going around - it doesn't last long but it involves nastiness from either end while it does.
It's hard to believe it's six weeks until I'll be back in London. I have my Big Chill flip flops from last year and I'll try to remember to wear them when it's on. I think I'll be back in Istanbul by then, on my way to Bucharest, with any luck.
July 20, 2006
Arrived on site!
Just a quick note to say I've arrived on site, quite tired after a long trip from Istanbul (sitting up and in the smoker's carriage, ugh). Istanbul is so lovely, I fell in love with it all over again. barbeque and party tonight, I've learnt how to time my arrivals and departures like an old hand :)
July 19, 2006
The Natural History Museum's Antarctic conservation blog "is written by Sarah Clayton, Nicola Dunn and Ainslie Greiner, and tells what it's like spending the winter in Antarctica conserving artefacts from the explorer's hut left behind by Ernest Shackleton in 1908."
July 18, 2006
It's a brave new world - I just checked in for tomorrow's flight to Istanbul online. I still have to pick up my boarding pass and drop off my checked luggage when I'm at the airport, but otherwise I'm good to go.
Now all I have to do is finish enough work to get out of the office, figure out what documents I need in print or on the memory stick, work out how much luggage I can take once I've weighed the laptop and the tent, pack, clean the flat, leave instructions about the flat, blah blah blah.
And I also have to bite the bullet and book somewhere to stay in Istanbul, finally pick a train or bus from Istanbul to Bucharest and work out how I'm going to get to Lviv or Kamyanets Podilsky or Chernivsti from Simferopol. Eek. I just hope I don't forget anything important.
I am procrastinating, badly. Shame on me. But did you know that the number one hit on Google for 'princess etiquette' is my Princess Diana advice page?
This transcript from Channel 4 just shows that Bush and Blair really are having an affair:
George Bush: ... Thanks for sweater it's awfully thoughtful of you
Tony Blair: It's a pleasure
George Bush: I know you picked it out yourself
Tony Blair: Oh, absolutely, in fact I knitted it. [Laughter]
...
George Bush: Yeah, yeah, he is sweet
Tony Blair: He is honey.
[But who are they talking about here? Could it be John Howard?]
More on the real story at Bush lunch chat is caught on tape, BBC.
It's probably also a good time to mention this love song from Bush to Blair.
July 17, 2006
Marrakech was amazing.
We got lost in the souks, went to the locals hammam, ate some really lovely meals, stayed in a lovely riad (possibly the loveliest place I've ever stayed), saw the museum and the madrassa, went on a trip to the Atlas Mountains, and relaxed in the jacuzzi.
Oh, and we totally rocked the Kasbah. We also did the Funky Cold Medina but that's best left a mystery.
July 12, 2006
Palaeontologists digging in northern Australia have found fossil evidence of several new species
"...flesh-eating marsupial would have lived between 10 and 20 million years ago, scientists say.
The research team has also unearthed evidence of a large carnivorous bird dubbed the "demon duck of doom".
July 10, 2006
10 Killer Post Ideas is interesting. I've never run out of things to say though there are times I've lost my 'voice'.
Learning Guide: SQL is quite good on common SQL questions.
July 9, 2006
Oh dear. I've just discovered there's a country called the Republic of Dagestan. That explains where my little brother came from.
It would be wrong to want to visit there just because of the name, wouldn't it? (Says the woman who's trying to get to Moldova to find the 'real' Molvania).
July 8, 2006
I've finally gotten around to adding a better rss feed.
And I've taken a look at the only version I still have of the first page, and that suggests the first entry was written in December 1996. I think I bowdlerised it at some point because it was really ranty about people we knew as well as randoms yelling things out in the street outside Kirsty and Fraser's flat.
Terry Lane: Sorry mate, no such thing as a fair go
"But one has had reason to take another look at Mr Howard's words these past few days and one has spotted a semantic error in the juxtaposed qualities a dinkum Aussie must keep in tension. We understand that excellence and fairness are euphemisms for profit on the one hand and a damn good thrashing if you ask for a decent wage on the other. And we understand that independence and mateship are code words for well-deserved wealth over dole bludging.
...
The essence of mateship, as a universal virtue, is that it is an impulse to help strangers, assuming the best of them until they prove themselves unworthy of an altruistic helping hand. Mateship is a shorthand way of describing a system of social organisation based on the moral imperative of doing one for others without calculating that one day you may need them to do one for you. It is a sort of bucolic golden rule that even affects social interaction in the cities."
No clowns at Bestival!
Clown phobias trip up festival plans
King's Cross on July 7
I don't know why, but of all the things I'd expected to see at King's Cross on July 7, it wasn't lots of media units.
I'm never usually there that early but there seemed to be as many commuters as ever. The mood was generally determined and a bit sombre, but maybe everyone always looks that way that early in the morning. Lots of police and transport police everywhere.
More comments on the photos themselves on flickr.
There was a really cute sniffer dog who clearly saw more interesting things to be sniffing than a bicycle chained to a fence between King's Cross and St Pancras, but I didn't think the police would appreciate me taking a photo of it.
You could browse archive.org for a long time. If the 36,796 live music concerts don't grab you, the 30,009 texts or 37,506 movies might.
"The Internet Archive is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Like a paper library, we provide free access to researchers, historians, scholars, and the general public."
Time passes
I can't believe I've been blogging for about ten years. My late-birthday, pre-trip drinks tomorrow night will also be to celebrate ten years of this blog, in its various incarnations. I wonder if Kirsty can remember the month I first put our whinges online. "But Kelly, I am a designer!"
I can't believe I've been in the UK for almost exactly four years.
Finally, I can't believe I'm going away for nearly seven weeks - I'm so not ready. I'm popping off to Marrakech for four days first, and my plan is basically to relax, maybe buy a purse to replace the one that was stolen last week, and then relax a bit more. Then one day to pack, panic, triple-check the flat, triple-check I've got my passports, then I'm off to Turkey.
Still no Moldovan visa, it's all a bit painful. They really don't want many tourists.
July 7, 2006
Tomorrow morning I have to get the 30 bus to King's Cross for St Pancras. Do I feel weird about it? Kinda. Is that going to stop me? No.
July 4, 2006
"A federal judge in California has ordered the US Navy to temporarily stop using sonar equipment because it might harm whales and other sea mammals." (BBC). Hippie joy!
July 3, 2006
I've been very slack on the blogging front. I was in deadline mode, but got what I needed to done on Friday, then went to J&B's civil partnership, which was lovely. Then Dreeny arrived from Brussels, we went to Smack, and to London Pride on Saturday.
Interesting idea...
Don't get groped - get even
"After years of sexual harassment on trains, women are fighting back - posting pictures of their aggressors on the web." (Guardian)