Summer in England

So, today is the last day of August and, true to form, it has been miserable, rainy and sticky.

What a terrible summer we have once again endured. It really makes one think about the quality of life we have in this country and inspired me to make a list of what is wrong with this isle of ours:

• The weather really is miserable
• It is unreasonably expensive (fuel, food, energy etc)
• The yob culture continues to grow
• We have little concept of how to enjoy alcohol
• The traffic is horrendous - everywhere
• Every high street is exactly the same - nothing is different or special (every shop in every town is either WHSmith, McDonald's, Boots, Marks and Spencer, HMV etc)
• Our benefits system is a complete joke
• Taxation is unfair and far too high
• Our achievements are historical and unlikely to be superceded
  

In fairness, there are some good points too:

• Freedom of speach still exists
• The English language
• We gave the world many major sports (and then struggle to be good at any of them)
• Democracy
• Some stunning scenery
• People are in general friendly
• For a small island, we have contributed hugely to the world of literature, science, art, music and politics
  

Back

Returned from a rather splendid time in the Czech Republic yesterday - tired after driving more than 2,500 miles in total.

There is much to share, digest and divulge, but for now, here are some thoughts and observations made during the past nine days:

• There was a distinct smell of sprouts as we neared Brussels...
• Sharing a sauna with a naked German man was a unique experience
• My word, beer is cheap in Czech - best I found, 15p a bottle
• Table tennis can be a lot of fun
• Fried cheese is a very tasty dish
• Returning from holiday is rubbish
  

Czech Here We Come

Tomorrow we leave for Czech - just in the final throws of packing now.
We have decided to opt for the automobile as our mode of transport. Yes, it takes a long time - probably about 18 hours door-to-door - but does have its advantages. No airports, no flying and having a car when there will be extremely handy.
We travel down through England, into the Tunnel, enter France, fly through Belgium, spend a long time in Germany and hit Czech from the west. We then skirt Prague before arriving at our final destination, having clocked up over 950 miles.
We are well prepared - lots of Red Bull and music to stave off unwanted shut eye on the Autobahn.
Ahoj for now...

Heroes and Villains

In what will be a recurring item for this blog, here is the first of my (constantly changing) Heroes and Villains list. In no particular order, Villains:

• Robbie Williams
• Christian O'Connell
• Jon Gaunt
• The price of fuel
  
• Tomatoes
• The M1
• Corruption in football
• Bad service
• Taxation
• High School Musical
• UK Medical Ltd
  

Heroes:

• John Lennon
• Neil Finn
• Crunchy Nut Corn Flakes
• Audi A4 cars
• Italian food
• The internet
• Tag Heuer watches
• Dave Dobbyn
• White Stuff
• Gibson Les Paul guitars
• Cinema
  

Happy Birthday To You

It is my fiancée's 30th birthday today.
Have a great day, sweetheart.
Všechno nejlepší k narozeninám
Miluju tě.

Czech Them Out

As I am in a Czech mood, due to my impending holiday there, it is interesting to note some of the worthy (or at least famous) people that have originated from this proud country.

• Franz Kafka
• Gustav Mahler
• Antonin Dvorak
• Eva Herzigova
• Ivana Trump
• Ivan Lendl
• Martina Navratilova
• Milos Forman
• Alfons Mucha
• Jan Hammer
• Good King Wenceslas
• Sigmund Freud
  

We also have the Czechs to thank for beer and Skoda cars.

That Holiday Feeling

Today I broke up. No more work for a splendid 17 days. Nine of these days will be spent in the Czech Republic, which will be most pleasant. Four of these days will be spent in the mountains in a rather fine looking hotel.
I am looking forward to brushing up on my Czech, which seems to improve, albeit slowly.
Ahoj for now...

"Challenges"

I work for a very big American company.
This has its disadvantages. One, of many, is that we are not supposed to have problems. Or issues. Or situations. Or difficulties. No, we have "challenges". I find this most challenging

The M1

Reasons to hate the M1.

• I spend at least two hours a day on it
• It is nearly always busy
• It is full of idiots
• It is too small for the volume of traffic
• There are 7 miles of roadworks at Nottingham that will be there for another two years
  

Blogging

So this is blogging. I hope you had fun. Another year over. A new one just begun.