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THE BLOGGY BIT...

This is where I ramble on about nothing in particular, in the hope that something may strike a chord with you, whether it be graphic design, football or real ale.












Sunday 31st May 2009 04:45

Yes, we managed our early rise, 04:45 to be precise (you're off your rockers you two -Ed), so I made us a quick cup of tea and off we went. Surprisingly, there were quite a few people about, not masses, just a handful, nevertheless we still took full advantage of almost having the Old Town to ourselves.

For the first time this holiday, I actually became a little 'click happy' and took as many shots as I could and since looking back on many of the images I'd taken throughout the week, I realised I'd taken an awful lot of shots that had tables and chairs in them, so decided to continue with the theme in the hope that I'd have enough to compile a special gallery on my website.

croatia

Once we'd exhausted ourselves we headed back to the apartment for the last time and had our breakfast of yoghurt, cheese and ham with crusty bread, two cups of tea and a banana! We both crashed out for about an hour and then showered, finished our final bit of packing and said our fond farewell to Ivan Kalas, the owner of the apartment and then headed off down the numerous steps to our taxi.

We arrived at the airport in good time, checked in, boarded and then found that our flight was delayed by around 20 minutes. Bollocks, I don't need that sort of shit at the end of a holiday! Anyway, we're now in the air, probably flying over the Alps and the time is 14:20 (Dubrovnik time) and we've just heard that Southampton is enjoying the same sunshine and temperatures! Yippee!
Having read about our escapades, you may also want to book a holiday to Croatia, please click on the logo above to find out more about the beautiful country.

Saturday 30th May 2009 17:55

I'm sat here looking out of our bedroom window, the island of Lokrum filling it. There are a few white clouds in the sky but I the majority of it is blue. The evening sun it catching a few terracotta rooftops. A seagull had just flown by and the regular ferry boat that sails over to the island has just come into view.
What a pisser though, we go back tomorrow!

Anyway, enough of my poetic ramblings, on to today's events. We didn't actually wake up until 07:40 mainly because of sunburnt-interrupted sleep, loud entertainment going on for quite some time and needing the toilet every hour or so because of all the water we were drinking. It also became a dilemma as to what to wear and whether I'd be able to put it on without screaming like a big girl.
Once we'd walked into the Old Town, it was time for lunch (you mean it took you that long to choose what to wear?! -Ed) and we were just in time to catch the pigeons being fed at 12 noon in Gundulic's Square again. It really is an amazing sight; hundreds of pigeons swooping around in a descending circle before literally landing on each other in the hope that they'll have their share!
For our lunch, Tanya chose Tomato and Mozzarella Cheese Salad with Basil whilst I opted for a simple Lasagne Bolognese - both went down very well indeed.

We then watched the World go by again and then went and explored another area of the Old Town that we'd not visited and ended up taking many photographs. As you've probably gathered by now, the Old Town is absolutely superb for photography and, heat permitting, you could spend hours upon hours there, always seeing something new. Having said that, as yet I've not even used a 2GB card yet (I'm shooting in RAW), although I have disciplined myself and filtered out shots that I didn't find particularly inspiring. Not only that, we've avoided taking our cameras out at times because we've either had enough of lugging them around or we've been soaking up the sun. As much as it would have been brilliant to take them to Kolocep (the island is stunning), we'd purely gone there to relax, sunbathe and swim so it may well mean that we'll have to visit the island again sometime in the future.
Anyway, where was I?! Oh yes, so we walked around the Old Town and at approximately 13:15, a pigeon shat on me from a great height. It went all down my arm, and more disturbingly, all down my Bolton Wanderers football shirt - all I can say is, "Ken, you're not a wanker after all!"

aqua maritime

Once we'd had our photography fill, we then sat in the main square that lies at the Ploce end of the Stradun, near Orlando's Column and had a beer. We then browsed a few more shops; Dubrovnik has some very classy shops (possibly the Italian influence), one of which, 'Aqua' sells all kinds of really cool stuff ranging from stationery to homeware.
Click on the cool logo above to find out more about the store.

niksa selmani

After having an icecream and eating it whilst sat on a bench in the harbour, we stopped off to buy a print of Dubrovnik by local painter Niksa Selmani before heading off back to our apartment in preparation for our last night out tonight. The print is very graphic in form, almost childlike and there is great use of bold colours which really make it stand out. Unfortunately, I've scoured the internet (even logging in via www.google.hr) and he doesn't have a website, so you'll have to make do with the photograph above of the print we bought.
We also popped into Konzum, our local supermarket to buy some food for tomorrow morning's breakfast, bearing in mind there are no shops open on a Sunday! Konzum is Croatia's largest supermarket chain and has over 600 stores open in Croatia and has more than 10,000 employees. Although its headquarters are in Zagreb its stores can also be found in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia.
For more about the store, please click on the logo below.

konzum

At the moment, Tanya is fast asleep and it's now 19:39, rather than wake her, I'd rather her catch up on some much-needed rest. Some time later, feeling a little refreshed, Tanya woke up so we both showered, put our glad rags on and hit the town for our final night. We have enjoyed ourselves immensely, although it's not exactly a cheap country to holiday in - beer is particularly dear, costing an average of between £7-10 for a pint and a half. Whatever you do, don't visit here with the assumption that £350 would cover all expenses for a week - make that more in the region of £500. Even meals in restaurants are on the pricey side so make sure you shop around. One other bit of advice; people who wait on you expect around a 10% tip, although it's not compulsory, more advisable. Anyway, enough of my travel guide advice...

... we ended up eating at Rhea Silvia, for a third time! It's the one on Gundulic's Square (just in case I haven't mentioned it before). Soon after we sat down, the few other people that had been eating, left! Now then, even though we'd eaten there twice, we had always been under the impression that if there are a handful of people, particularly locals, sat outside a restaurant, it's a good bench mark for how good the food is... had we made a mistake?
Tanya ordered 'Chicken Dubrovnik Style' whilst I chose the 'Pork Cutlets'. We had made the right choice, both were absolutely delicious and remarkably cheap compared with many of the other restaurants we'd looked at. We finished with a coffee (yes, they had a beer as well - Ed) and then headed off back to our apartment for our very last night there (boo-hoo). It was way past our bed time as well, something like 22:30 I think! The other reason we'd wanted a particularly early night is because we'd planned a very early rise in the morning so we could take advantage of the Old Town for the last time - tourist free.

Friday 29th May 2009 10:00

Since the weather had chosen to be kind to us (not that we have any reason to complain), we finally bit the bullet and planned to go to Kolocep (pronounced Kollochep), one of the Elaphite Islands, so we caught the 1A bus to Gruz, another large region of the Dubrovnik area. We'd caught the bus slap bang in the middle of commuter traffic, so what should have been a simple bus journey turned into a bit of a sweaty nightmare!
Anyway, we managed to get there, buy our tickets and board the ferry across to the island with about five minutes to spare... don't really know why we were in such a panic. Once aboard, it became apparent that we were sharing the vessel with around 30-40 school children who felt it necessary to make the noise of ten times that amount... bastards.
It took about half an hour to sail over and once on the island, we inadvertently walked around the majority of the island because Tanya had spotted an information sign that eventually led us nowhere. Having said that though, whilst on our cross country trek, we did see numerous insect species, a few lizards and a snake, so all was not lost.
To find out more about the idyllic island of Kolocep, please click on the logo below.

kolocep

In the end, we had to backtrack the whole way, by which time we were absolutely parched and ravenous. A couple of bottles of water and two Twix bars sorted that little problem out for the time-being. From there we hit the beach, soaking up as much sun as we possibly could - we needed to make the most of it!
We lay in the sun and swam in the sea on a few occasions and even though we smothered ourselves in sun tan lotion, we were silly enough to stay in it for almost four hours.

NHS choices

At around 16:00 we'd decided it was time for our evening meal so we stopped and ordered steak and chips at a restaurant on the island and have to say it was the most amazing steak I'd ever tasted, although for 95Kn each, it had to have been!
From there we waited for the ferry which was slightly late and, once on dry land, we caught the bus back to the Old Town, where both of us were quickly realising that we had a relatively heavy bout of sunstroke! Yes, yes, yes, we were plain idiotic, especially as there is potential of it being a major health risk. We walked back through the Old Town, shivery fevers coming and going, as we walked back to our apartment.
One excruciatingly painful shower ensued and it was time to put some good advice from Mr Ryder, a Polish hotel owner from Swanage, into practice (from when I last had sunstroke at the age of 15!) Wrap up as warm as you can so that the body sweats, cooling the skin down and drink copious amounts of water to rehydrate yourself. We had planned to go out for the evening yet neither of us were in any fit state to!
A very painful night's sleep was ahead of us... for more information about the dangers that sunbathing can result in, please click on the logo above.

Thursday 28th May 2009 07:13

So, neither of us had had much sleep last night, yet that wasn't going to deter the enjoyment of our day in the slightest. We had planned on going to visit one of the Elaphite Islands although last night's weather had put that on hold. Even though the thunderstorm had dispersed, the sea was choppier than Charlie the Chopping Board, who's very choppy indeed.

Even though we'd spent a good deal of time in the Old Town, we still felt that we hadn't used our exploration skills to their full potential so, after a poached egg breakfast, we headed off on another adventure. The Old Town appears as if it would be literally flat, yet there are many steps going into it, particularly around the outskirts, so we chose to venture the higher parts of town, almost following the city wall perimeter, and were so glad we did.
Dubrovnik has many architectural influences and they are definitely a nation who are unmistakably proud of their history and have endeavoured to retain the Old Town's pre-war glory, after all, it's just short of two decades since the conflict ended. There is even a plaque on the wall showing which roofs had to be rebuilt and it even indicates direct bullet hits on the town's marble pavements. It's great that they have chosen to embrace this conflict as history rather than dwell on the it.

We took a substantial amount of photographs of the narrow streets, the buildings and even washing hung up on the line to dry. After a few hours though, it was time for brunch (we'd already had a breakfast, before you decide we're gluttonous), so we stopped at Rhea Silvia in one of our favourite squares, Gundulic's Square, just off the main Stradun. We ordered scrambled egg with sausage and it was absolutely delicious, possibly the nicest I've ever tasted!
We sat at our table for a good hour or more, watching the World go by, seeing the pigeons being fed (yes, Red Ken, Dubrovnik is beautiful and doesn't feel the need to force its heritage away to remain that way, wanker). It was great to sit there for such a long time and 'people watch'.
After we'd had our fill, we went back to our apartment to drop our cameras off and chill our for a while (haven't you done enough of that already? - Ed)

libertas dubrovnik

After a little deliberation, we decided to catch the bus to Mlini, a picturesque village that Tanya had looked into staying at instead of Dubrovnik. We had to wait quite some time before the No.10 appeared and it cost only 20Kn in total to travel there. As with everywhere around here, it was on a hill, which meant an incredible heart-stopping journey on the out-of-city roads that had been carved into the mountainside. When you're waiting at traffic lights because the road is single lane, it doesn't do much for your confidence, especially when you find out that the other half of the road has collapsed into the sea.
Anyway, after a steep walk down, we began to realise just how beautiful and out of the way Mlini was. Unfortunately, we didn't have an awful lot of time to spend there because we'd had to wait a good half an hour or more for our bus and had planned to catch the 18:15 ferry back to Dubrovnik. We paddled in the sea for a while, soaked up some sun and enjoyed the views before heading off for our ferry, only to find that the ferry we wanted only ran in 'the season' and we weren't in 'the season'... bollocks... a steep climb back up the hill to find we had been more than fortunate; within five minutes, the bus for our return journey turned up!
If you're planning a stay in Dubrovnik, you can access the local bus timetables by clicking on the logo above.

dinamo zagreb v hnk hajduk split

We'd had such an enjoyable day that we didn't want it to stop, so we hit the town (shouldn't that be Old Town? - Ed) We had a couple of beers (well, Tanya had a cocktail as well), watched the World go by once again, as well as the groovy town clock that has a Roman numeral as its hour prefix, followed by a Brahmagupta numeral, the standard numbers we use today, as its minute. We decided that X15 (quarter past ten) was the coolest combination you could have (you need to get our more - Ed) Many of the bars within the town had the Croatian Cup Final on, Zagreb were playing Split, it went the distance, including extra time and went to penalties. It was quite exciting to watch the match and see the expressions on the fans' faces, especially as there was a mix of supporters watching it. What I found even more remarkable was how all of them remained relatively quiet, with a distinct lack of football banter going on! After a tense few minutes, Zagreb won.

Wednesday 27th May 2009 09:04

The location of our apartment had proved too much for Tanya (and myself, come to think of it!) and last night Tanya had made arrangements to see another apartment with a proprietor who she had been in touch with prior to booking our accommodation here. She was that unhappy, we needed to see whether it was worth moving closer to the Old Town - and sea level!
It didn't take long to make a decision, it was now time to break the news to the proprietor of where we were staying. Not only was the new place nearer and far more accessible, it was cheaper as well (and it had a bloody kettle!). Luckily for us, Katy took the news very gracefully indeed and actually apologised about it not being what we'd expected.
For more information about the apartment we were now staying in, please click on the logo below.

kalas apartment mia

Rather than trundle everything down to our new accommodation, Tanya suggested that we book a taxi to take us there - wise decision!
We packed and unpacked again and now it was time to test just how close we were... very was the answer, so we headed straight for the Tourist Information Centre, in the hope that we would be able to find out more about the Elaphite Islands, to see where the excursion went from and what cost it entailed. It looked like every island trip had to be booked, unless you chose to visit individual ones via a taxi boat. Previous to visiting the Tourist Information Centre, we'd looked at going sunbathing on a beach on the other side of the Old Town; it turned out that that was rocky too!

ozujsko

From there, even though it was relatively early, we had lunch down one of the side streets (it seemed a far quieter alternative) where we both had smoked ham and cheese salad and... wait for it, a beer! Now then, you all must know by now that I'm a huge real ale fan - unfortunately, real ale isn't a European thing (yes, I know Britain is part of Europe but I'm sure you know what I mean). Luckily though a particular Croatian beer called Ozujsko pleased my real ale palate. For what I would essentially class as a lager beer, it's not too gaseous, nor does it bloat your gut up to the size of a Puffer fish, it's just light and refreshing and a great tasting beer.
If you'd like to visit the Ozujsko website, please click on the logo above.

Once we'd had our lunch, we had another walk around the Old Town and I finally bought a Croatian national football team shirt (the away one), because I think they're ultra-cool, colour-wise and design-wise. They're not that bad a football team either, plus Niko Kranjcar plays for Portsmouth.
The best site around for online football shirts is soccerbox.com. If you're interested in buying one of your team, national or international football shirt, please click on the logo below.

soccerbox.com

We then stopped off at Cele for another Ice Coffee (yes, they're becoming as addictive as beer) and then carried on to the beach, chilled out in sun and had a dip in the sea. It's probably around 17:00hrs now and I'm sat on our new, rather private balcony, although it's right next to a school and the kids are making quite a din right now, nevertheless I'm using a ceramic tiled table as my writing desk and have a pergola above me with grape vines growing on it, both above and to the sides of me. As I look behind, towards the apartment, there are several orange trees... sounds bloody awful, doesn't it?!?!

Serves me right for blatantly boasting about how great everything is... a few hours later, just as we were about to go out for the evening, a huge thunderstorm descended and continued for about five hours! It flitted in and out of the immediate area, coupled with a torrential downpour each time and eventually subsided at around 23:30. I managed to sleep through the majority of it, much to Tanya's amazement (and disgruntlement - Ed), apart from when it was as good as being overhead.
We both then managed a good five hour's sleep (although I do recall being woken by two cats frantically scrapping at one point) until the thunderstorm returned with a vengeance, to the point where it sounded like the Earth was being ripped apart. Bastard noisy horror movie sort of shit it was.

Tuesday 26th May 2009 08:10

We had no particular plan of action today, except to walk the city walls. Given a few hours to contemplate the feat, Tanya decided against, due to her impending vertigo and, after a lot of persuasion, Tanya said I should go up on my own, although I prefer to share holiday experiences.
It was 50Kn (Kuna) to go up which roughly equates to about £6 (British Pound) which wasn't too bad when you weighed up that you'd be seeing some amazing views and experiencing some deep-rooted history at the same time.
As I walked around, I quickly began to realise that there wasn't a cat in hell's chance of Tanya being able to complete even part of it. There was a particular section towards the bottom end of town that meets the sea and it made me feel very uncomfortable indeed. Other than that, the views were incredible and I could have spent a lot longer up there, only I felt conscious of leaving Tanya sat on her own.

bokar

I was both exhausted and completely parched by the time I'd finished so we sat outside of Cele and had an Ice Coffee (What? No beer? - Ed). We then had another walk around the Old Town, looking in on several different shops and whatnot, one of which was Bokar Galerija, an art gallery with paintings by Ljubomir Buco Pende. He paints his stunning work painted using the old egg tempera technique.
For more information about him, as well as viewing his work, please click on the logo above.

arsenal

It wasn't long before we found the heat to be just too unbearable (it was 32°C according to the waiter where we had our ice coffee), so we had our lunch in Arsenal Taverna that overlooks Dubrovnik Harbour where we could keep out of the sun for some time! It's mad when you think about it, you long for a sun-soaked holiday, only to avoid it at all costs - us Brits have a lot to answer for! Anyway, we both chose the Tuna Salad for our lunch, expecting a whole array of salad, so when I was served with a plate of food where I only liked 50% of it, I was a little pissed off... tomatoes I love, except raw ones, cucumber is just pointless, it wets everything around it and makes you burp repeatedly and sweetcorn, well, that shit belongs in vomit and nowhere else. Never mind!
To find out more about the restaurant and others that are part of the same group, please click on the logo above.

Once we'd eaten, we chose to head back to the apartment, the main reason being that the head was too intense to be walking around. In the end, we both took it in turns to sunbathe on the apartment's balcony - not only that, yesterday's packed agenda had caught up with the both of us.
We finished off the remainder of the Spaghetti Bolognese I'd cooked the night before and we cracked open a couple of beers whilst watching the sun set as the Old Town's lights came on as nighttime set in. Very romantic. So romantic that I had actually started falling asleep before 21:00 so decided to wrap it up for the day. This holiday is too bloody relaxing!

Monday 25th May 2009 05:30

Woke up all refreshed, although Tanya had had a somewhat different night, struggling with the heat, the wall clock ticking and my snoring. Because Tanya had had little sleep, we both ventured into the Old Town and where there by around 6am. It was great, hardly anyone around apart from a few market stall traders who were setting up, and the waste disposal men who were picking up all the bags of rubbish that littered the streets. We spent around two hours exploring the main streets and side streets, just soaking up the atmosphere and taking plenty of photographs.
The Dubrovnik Tourist Board website can be accessed by clicking on the logo below.

dubrovnik tourist board

With it being Monday, it meant we could buy a few food essentials at Kerum, a local supermarket, so that we could keep this holiday's budget to a minimum. I guess you might ask why we bothered coming away?! Well, for one, we needed a break and we'd never holidayed in the sun together, so there! Once we come back to the apartment, we sat down and enjoyed a continental breakfast and then headed off back into town so that we could catch a boat at over to Lokrum.

island otok lokrum

Lokrum is an island which sits very close to Dubrovnik and has a fortress, botanical garden, monastery, several beaches (including a nudist one) and a lake called 'The Dead Sea'. It is very unlike the mainland because the island is covered in trees and appears like a big green blob in the middle of the Adriatic. As soon as we arrived there we had a beer and then headed off to the beach for a spot of sunbathing. It amused us how they were classed as beaches on the brochure; there wasn't a beach to be found, only rocky outcrops with ladders down to the water. We spent the majority of the day there just lazing about in the sun and swimming in the sea. Beautiful. We then caught the boat back and on the way back to the apartment, we were caught up in a thunderstorm with torrential rain; having been very hot all day, it was a welcome break and felt cool enough for us both to scale the million or so steps back to the apartment!
To find out more about the island, please click on the logo above.

cele

Now that we were back at our apartment, I cooked a Spaghetti Bolognese which we ate out on our balcony; this was after we had experienced another thunderstorm and torrential downpour! After we had eaten, we thought we might walk around the city walls and enjoy a beer or two at 'Cele' in the Old Town. It turned out that we were too late to do the city walls walk so we just sat in the main square and had a beer which totally knocked us out, for it had been an incredibly long day! We caught a taxi back to the apartment and pretty much crashed out for the night!
Unfortunately 'Cele' doesn't have a website but I can assure you that it has a fantastic atmosphere and is in one of the best possible spots to people watch.

Sunday 24th May 2009 09:00

Wow! Our first proper holiday abroad since February 2007. Holidays abroad take some saving for us so we were very much looking forward to getting on the plane from Southampton and flying to Dubrovnik, a beautiful city on Croatia's Dalmatian Coast. Croatia borders Slovenia and Hungary to the north, Serbia to the northeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the east, Montenegro to the southeast and has a sea border with Italy to the southwest.
For more information about the destination that is becoming more and more popular, please click on the Croatian flag below.

flag of croatia

After Abbi, Tanya's daughter, had dropped us off, the inevitable preflight shits kicked in. I hate flying, it's unnatural and often unnecessary, although in our case, we had no choice, unless of course we'd booked several months off and chosen to swim instead! Sorry, we've added a few more steps to the carbon footprint.

Our flight was excellent, only the odd bit of turbulence and the views over the Alps and the Dalmatian Coast were absolutely stunning. We landed safely at Dubrovnik Airport (obviously - Ed) and our pre-booked taxi transfer was waiting for our arrival. We were here! We were in Dubrovnik! It was about half an hour's drive from the airport to where we were staying and we ended up arriving about 45 minutes early but that wasn't a problem.
To find out more about the airport and its ongoing expansion, please click on the logo below.

dubrovnik airport

The accommodation was nice, although Tanya was disappointed because the photographs of the rooms on the Internet appeared to be much larger than in real life. Anyway, we were here (I don't care much for what apartment is like, so long as you can eat, sleep and shit there!)
Once unpacked, we headed straight for the Old Town and had decided to do so without our cameras. We are very high up here and I'll have to make a note of how many steps there are down to the Old Town (a lot, I'd expect!)

Even though it was mid-afternoon, we chose to have an early tea (dinner to you southerners!) And stopped at a restaurant called Revelin Club. Tanya had tuna steak and I opted for sea bass, both were served with seasonal vegetables. It was quite pricey, but then again, sea bass and tuna are going to be. We had a couple of beers and a sweet before it was time to make our way back to the apartment.
Since returning home, I also found out that it's a nightclub as well as a restaurant, please click on the logo below to find out more or to view their menus.

revelin club

Even for the fittest, the walk back is a test of anyone's agility; its steep, and with sweltering heat as well as three beers down you, hard going! Having been up relatively early this morning, we chose to stay in for the evening and just chill out.
A slight downside to Croatia is that the government has recently made it against the law for any shops to be open on a Sunday due to the decreasing number of churchgoers. Many locals oppose this idea and, as a tourist, you have to respect that decision, even though is a total pain in the arse! Anyway the point I'm trying to make is that we couldn't buy any food or beer, unless it was from a restaurant.

Saturday 23rd May 2009 11:19

Having finished work for a whole week and a bit, we could relax and sort out some last minute things before enjoying a whole week in Dubrovnik, Croatia. Tanya had already taken care of our flight there via Flybe.com, which meant a direct flight from Southampton Airport to Dubrovnik Airport.

flybe.com

Flybe has major bases situated at Birmingham, Southampton, Belfast City, Manchester, Jersey, Guernsey, Inverness, Edinburgh and Glasgow and operates out of more UK airports than any other airline. It is now Europe’s largest regional low-cost airline and since the successful acquisition and integration of BA Connect in March 2007, the route network is 70% domestic UK, 20% European business and 10% European leisure destinations.
For more information about the low-cost airline, please click on the logo above.

post office

Today we needed to convert our accommodation charge into Euros and hopefully convert our spending money into the Croatian currency, Kuna. As with anything currency-related, we opted to do all of this via our local Post Office - always reliable and trustworthy... or are they?
We managed to sort out our Euros with no problem whatsoever, yet the Kuna proved to be a different story, although the cashier suggested that we try another exchange bureaux based just around the corner.
To visit the Post Office website, please click on the logo above.

eurochange

Annoyingly enough, it turned out that the exchange bureaux, 'Eurochange' had a far better rate for every currency, with the figures and statistics to prove it. So much for the Post Office being the place you can trust. Not only that, it proved to be a significant difference so if you're planning on a trip abroad in the not-too-distant future, please click on the logo above to find out your nearest bureaux.

Friday 22nd May 2009 07:21

Today I must talk about an incredibly funny British comedy television series called 'The Thick Of It'. It has already earned several awards since its first broadcast on BBC Four in 2005. The series take a true-to-life satirical view of the internal politics of modern British government. Since 2005 it has completed six half-hour episodes and two special hour-long episodes to coincide with Christmas and Gordon Brown's appointment as Prime Minister.

the thick of it

The series is written by a team of writers led by Armando Iannucci, who also directs the series, with Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell and Tony Roche. Approximately 20% of the dialogue is improvised rather than scripted, and includes some very strong language. The main core of stars are Hugh Abbot, played by Chris Langham, is a blundering minister heading the department, who is continually trying to do his job under the watchful eye of Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi), Number 10's highly aggressive and domineering "enforcer". The programme also features James Smith as Senior Special Adviser Glenn Cullen, who is not an MP, Chris Addison as Junior Policy Advisor Olly Reeder, and Joanna Scanlan as Civil Service Press Secretary Terri Coverley.
To find out more (and watch some clips), please click on the logo above.

Thursday 21st May 2009 04:36

Ever receive emails or need to provide links to webpages where the URL (Uniform Resource Identifier) is about the length of a short novel, to the point where it actually becomes embarrassing to even provide the link? Thought so!

Well, Lee, that chap who's become a bit of a celebrity on this 'ere blog, directed me to a brilliant site called Tiny URL. What the site does is convert those ultra-long addresses to a far more convenient size. More than 240 million have now been created and the site has over 2 billion hits per month. That's some audience! I guess you're going to ask how much it costs... the answer is nothing, although you have the option to donate via PayPal, if you so wish.

tiny url

I submitted the URL of this blog: http://www.igimages.co.uk/blog.html
It has a length of 35 characters and resulted in the following TinyURL which has a length of 25 characters:
http://tinyurl.com/p683dy

Not exactly the best example to provide - I suppose some eBay addresses could be drastically shortened though!
By clicking on the logo above, you can try it out for yourself.

Wednesday 20th May 2009 22:45

I don't quite know the numbers of my blog fan base... it could possibly be three people, although that figure is growing at a rate of knots. I asked a particular fan, based in North Carolina, whether he had any specific websites that would be worthy of mentioning on here. Apart from ones that focus on bisexual rodents and their fetish ways, the only other one he could direct me to was one called Digital Spy.

digital spy

Digital Spy is the UK's largest independent entertainment website, having grown over nine years to over 90 million monthly page impressions, with a unique audience reach of over five million unique users. The main part of the site is updated continuously with news and features in entertainment areas such as showbiz, movies, music and television whilst the media section covers the latest in the TV broadcasting industry, focussing particularly on digital television and television equipment.
To find out more about UK entertainment, please click on the logo above.

Tuesday 19th May 2009 06:11

I really wanted to avoid making my feelings public about this, nevertheless, I have decided to go ahead with it...

My daughter is six today and it's now three years since my ex-wife struck off all contact I had with my children, for that was the last time I saw them. She deliberately changed her home and mobile numbers to avoid all contact from me and since I chose to move approximately 250 miles away, popping round to see them isn't brilliantly convenient, especially if no-one's at home!

I can appreciate that I was most certainly described as a 'bastard' (if not worse) for walking out of the family home but why should my children suffer? Yes, there are ways and means of forcing the issue by going through the courts and paying money for a contact order, although I ask myself whether that would be beneficial for either party. All I know is that I'm paying for them via the CSA with nothing in return, not even regular 'phone calls to let me know how they are, or recent photographs to see how they're growing up.
Don't get me wrong, I have absolutely no problem with paying my way towards them, in fact, if I saw them, I'd no doubt spoil them but money isn't the way to anyone's heart; I'd always been taught that love is the most important thing you can give a child in early life, even if the Mummy and Daddy can't live together.

When mothers (and fathers for that matter) behave in such a way, you almost wish that their children turn on them later in life and make them realise how vindictive they were for nullifying all contact with the other party, including their Grandparents, Auntie, Uncle and cousins. It's pathetic and I really hope that one day, the law will change about such spiteful acts of heartlessness. What makes it harder to swallow is that she's a Christian.

C'est la vie...

Monday 18th May 2009 20:00

Pompey had already secured safety prior to tonight's clash with Sunderland, partly to do with the performance of teams below them over the weekend. This would be the penultimate game before the relegation deciders, and indeed the very last Premiership matches of the season, are battled out this coming Sunday.
Sunderland went into this game almost safe. A win would secure another season in the top flight, a loss would just mean a nervy end to the season and a draw would actually prove pointless (that doesn't make sense - Ed). In other words, a point wouldn't make anything easier or worse, they'd still be in the same predicament.

portsmouth v sunderland

The first half was diabolically bad, dreadful passing and poor football... why had I bothered to sit down and watch this?! Pompey came out a different team in the second half and came close to scoring on a number of occasions, then, completely against the run of play, Sunderland caught Pompey out on the counter-attack and within seconds, the ball had been played upfield with a superb swooping cross that Kelwyn Jones calmly controlled and directed it goalbound. An amazing goal.
Within 90 seconds, John Utaka had equalised, even though referee, Alan Whiley, had blown his whistle for an infringement in the penalty area. Slightly bemused, as well as embarrassed, he let the goal stand.
A dreadful own goal then made it 2-1 to Pompey with Traore sealing a well-deserved 3-1 victory, giving the home fans at Fratton something to cheer about, particularly as the last goal they'd witnessed was a month ago against Bolton!

Sunday 17th May 2009 14:37

With only one match left for all the teams in the Premiership, it was almost inevitable that this weekend's fixture list would possibly decide the champions and take casualties along with it. I admire the fight and team spirit of struggling clubs, more so than the grit and determination of the teams chasing the title, for their depth of squads is incomparable to the likes of teams who are newly promoted into the top flight.

Manchester United only needed a point from yesterday's fixture to seal the title, whereas at the opposite end of the table West Bromwich Albion needed the same, only to seal Premiership survival.

premier league

I watched both matches and the extremes of elation and disappointment. Being a Bolton fan, I know the feeling of what it's like to be promoted and then relegated in the same season, it's a gutting feeling, especially as Bolton were a yo-yo team for a few seasons. In the Baggies' supporters defence though, I have to say how impressed I was with their appreciation of the players and in particular, their manager, Tony Mowbrey. It's all too easy for football club's boards and fans to turn on their managers... take Newcastle as being a good example. WBA ended up losing 0-2 to Liverpool, even though they put up a good spirited fight, it just wasn't to be for the Midlands club.

Yesterday's match disappointed me. I expected more from both sides. On the one hand, I'd have thought that Arsene Wenger would've tried everything in his power to stall United's chance of becoming champions, particularly as it was their last home match of the season. Then, on the other, I'd have thought that United would've wanted to seal the title with an emphatic win over their rivals and to do it in style in front of their faithful home fans. Both sides had their chances, just didn't appear to have the commitment. Ah well, can't stand either of the sides anyway so why do I care?!
For more information about the final games and standings in the Premier League, click on the image above.

Saturday 16th May 2009 13:32

Quite an uneventful day really, although we did manage a walk around Emsworth Mill Pond and then went on to do our weekly shop at Morrisons. Over the past few weeks, we've been ordering our shopping online, and apart from the fact that the delivery times can be somewhat disruptive, it's soooo much easier than having to drive to a supermarket and fight your way through the other shoppers. I have a problem with the majority of them, and I'll tell you why...

Old people. They have all the time in the world to do their shopping, yet they choose to arrive at the supermarket, along with their dithering ways and piss people off such as myself. Okay, I know that Saturdays are just a no-no when it comes to shopping but we needed a good few essentials and thought it be best to try and escape the feeling of wanting to slay hoards of them by going late morning. Big mistake. I think that supermarkets should have lanes, similar to that of a motorway - that way the dawdling bastards could go as slow as they liked, whilst the people who knew what they wanted, where what they wanted was and knew what fucking day of the week it was could be in and out in no time.

Parents with children. Now then, I don't have a problem with parents, nor do I have a problem with children. What I do have a problem with is parents that take children to the supermarket. A recipe for disaster if you ask me. Not only that, ASDA (and probably others too) made mini shopping trolleys for children... why?!?! From the times where I've been in a queue behind parents with their children, it's caused nothing but major arguments... "I told you to put that back" or "Where did that come from?" or "I told you you could only have one!" etc etc.
Anyway, yesterday I heard a great one, Mother to child, "I just HATE bringing you shopping, you always cost me a fortune!" Simple. Don't fucking take your child with you then! It's a bit like saying, "I just HATE putting my hand in fire because it burns it". Some parents are pathetically brain dead, they really are.

Friday 15th May 2009 11:38

I was asked to take several photographs of a full-size folding SwissBike, featuring particular parts that make this model a special edition, in particular its Shimano and RockShox parts.

shimano

The trend-setting ALIVIO group feature a full complement of advanced Shimano functions for quality recreational mountain bikes such as 8-speed Hyperdrive, powerful V-Brake and disc brake systems, and Rapidfire Plus.
Please click on the image above to see the vast range of accessories that this company offers.

rockshox

SRAM produce nothing but bike components, to the point where, in their opinion, they 'do them so mind-bendingly well'. The company began with the goal of creating the ultimate shifting system, changing the cycling world forever with the launch of Grip Shift. Since then, they had the vision and desire the expand their presence within the cycling industry, joining forces with the best suspension company, RockShox.
To find out more about RockShox, please click on the image above.

iPod

And later that afternoon, I finally completed an image that I'd had in mind for quite some time...

Thursday 14th May 2009 19:51

It's not often that my Dad ends up telling me about application programs, particularly ones that have been developed to work on both Mac and PC platforms. Nevertheless, it's a sound recording and editing program, so he has far more knowledge than I have regarding such things.

audacity

Audacity is a free, easy-to-use audio editor and recorder for Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux and other operating systems. Developed by a group of volunteers and distributed under the GNU General Public License, you can use Audacity to record live audio, convert tapes and records into digital recordings or CDs, edit Ogg Vorbis, MP3, WAV or AIFF sound files. You can also cut, copy, splice or mix sounds together, change the speed or pitch of a recording and more. The open source software gives you the freedom to use the program, study how it works, improve it and share it with others.
Please click on the logo above to download a copy and start to find out more for yourself.

Wednesday 13th May 2009 10:28

Whilst hunting around for a vector-based logo today, I stumbled upon yet another superb site. I wouldn't label it a graphics site, nor would I label it a photography site because you also given the opportunity of showcasing audio editing, amongst many other media related fields.
Aviary, a privately-owned company is on mission to make all forms of media creations accessible to artists of all genres. Their team members are based all around the world although their current headquarters are on Long Island, New York.

aviary

I've not yet had the chance to have a good look around the site but it does look incredibly exciting with various 'editors' in the shape of eggs, as well as other nifty gadgets and gizmos... click on the logo above to find out much more.

Tuesday 12th May 2009 21:51

Lee, a mate of mine who lives in North Carolina, made a very good suggestion of me starting a separate blog all about real ale and inviting guests to submit their reviews as well. Not only that, rather than spend hours typing about each one, actually do the reviews via a podcast. Now then, I think I've only ever listened to one podcast in my life, which is quite bizarre, particularly as I almost live on my computer.

apple podcast

Anyway, rather than do a podcast about a random real ale and then find it tastes of gorilla piss or something, I thought I'd spend around two minutes talking a load of bollocks really. You may remember me harping on about how brilliant 'Personal Jesus' by Depeche mode is... well, whilst hunting around YouTube the other day, I found a superb mix of Depeche Mode versus Soft Cell and this person had combined 'Personal Jesus' with 'Tainted Love'... do a search on YouTube and have a listen.
My podcast is about two songs I believe to sound similar, The Prodigy's 'Firestarter' and 'Big Noise From Winnetka' an instrumental by Bob Crosby, which has recently been used on the Direct Gov adverts on both television and radio. I'm no maestro when it comes to doing music mixes but I hope you'll get the idea!
Please click on the Podcast logo (if you dare) to have a listen...

Monday 11th May 2009 21:53

As I said on Saturday, a huge Premiership crunch match between two north east teams, Newcastle United and Middlesbrough was to be decided at St. James's Park tonight. Neither side could afford to lose which inevitably meant that neither side were prepared to sit back and fight out an uninspiring goalless draw.

newcastle united v middlesbrough

The home side went a goal down after just three minutes when Newcastle defender, Habib Beye was unfortunate enough to turn the ball into his own net. It wasn't long before Newcastle were back on level terms though with a sixth-minute header thundered in from a Danny Guthrie corner. Going into the break, the teams stayed at 1-1 and it looked very much like that's the way it would stay, particularly as Middlesbrough were dominating play yet they seemed incapable of producing any spark that would put them ahead.

With around 20 minutes of the match remaining, Magpie's iconic manager, Alan Shearer, decided to make a very bold substitute, taking Michael Owen off and replacing him with Obafemi Martins and it turned out to be a priceless change, for 55 seconds later he'd managed to score, regardless of him completely losing his footing as he shot. Newcastle were 2-1 up! The game wasn't finished either, for another substitute, Peter Lovenkrands, smashed the ball into the back of the net in the 86th minute. The relegation derby battle ended 3-1 with Newcastle bagging their first win under Alan Shearer, taking them out of the bottom three for the first time in two months, forcing Hull City (Bolton's next opponents) into the relegation zone for the first time this season.

It's certainly going to be a nail-biting end for the six teams who are all struggling with Premiership survival... Hull City, Middlesbrough, Newcastle United, Portsmouth, Sunderland and West Bromwich Albion. I wonder what the odds are for the three north east sides to go down?

Sunday 10th May 2009 18:36

Basically spent another whole day working on the amendments to the designs I submitted last night - not that there were any particular mistakes, more a case of taking the designs further in a visual aspect.

We did have a bit of time, late morning, for us to take another trip to the Southwick Brewhouse, where I bought six bottles of real ale and had my beer carrier signed (four signatures constitutes a free bottle, so I'm half way there!) On the way back, we stopped at the burger van on Portsdown Hill and sat and ate our 'brunch' whilst looking out across the city of Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight that lies beyond. It's an incredible view, even on a windy and quite gloomy day like today was.

pompey royal

Anyway, since I have little to report today, I thought I'd comment on the fact that one of real ales I bought today is called 'Pompey Royal', described as a strong draught ale, although I'd class 4.5% ABV as being slightly above average. Having said that, I'd class it as an exceptional ale, sweet, malty and a delicate hop finish with hints of caramel with a distinct fruity nose.
Click on the pump clip above for more information about the beer and the brewery.

Saturday 9th May 2009 21:07

This isn't a call for sympathy, well, it is really, but I spent all day working today on an urgent job that had to have proofs submitted by 22:00 tonight. Quite a tall order but I managed it. More about it when I've actually had feedback from the powers that be within the company.

I did manage to keep an eye on the Premiership scorelines and final results and, except for a total catastrophe and a mathematical disaster, Bolton are as good as being safe. What did come as quite a surprise was the fact that West Bromwich Albion, who have almost been rooted to the foot of the Premiership since Christmas, actually managed a 3-1 over Wigan Athletic, putting them level on points with the two teams above them, Middlesbrough and Newcastle United, who both meet for a Premiership showdown at St. James's Park on Monday night. With only three matches left until the end of the season, there are a handful of teams who are still in the mix to either stay up or go down.

bill bailey's remarkable guide to the orchestra

Later, I did have time to sit down and watch 'Bill Bailey's Remarkable Guide to the Orchestra', shown on BBC2, which was absolutely fantastic. Bill Bailey is an incredible stand-up comedian with a brain that seems to store weird, wonderful and incredibly surreal intellectual nonsense. Orchestrated by Anne Dudley with the BBC Concert Orchestra, Bill explores the use of music along with his own explanations of each instrument's character. It really is incredibly clever, yet downright silly stuff.
Please click on the poster from the original concert held in October of last year to watch it on the BBC iPlayer website. Alternatively, you can download it, as I have done.

Friday 8th May 2009 12:11

I know I'm going to sound old when I say this but, why is it that as you get older, the years appear to become much shorter? What I'm trying to get at is that it's a year since my Dad turned 70... where has that year gone? Nevertheless, happy 71st, Dad!

eSnips

Whilst at work today, I once again needed to source some artwork and, in doing so, I stumbled upon yet another great site where you're able to upload and download artwork. Not only that, once you register, you are given 5GB of space, absolutely free!
eSnips is based on the award-winning technology that they developed for their Net Snippets products, used by tens of thousands of professional business and academic researchers. It’s profited from feedback they've had about Net Snippets since it was introduced in 2001. They offer one account that allows you to share anything with anyone - giving you options on who and how you want to share with. You can create as many folders as you like, each for a different topic. Then you can decide what audience can view each folder. No other content-sharing site allows you such flexibility in publishing your media.
Please click on the very cute logo above for more information.

Thursday 7th May 2009 23:36

Today's link is to the Apple site, particularly the multitude of widgets that you can install via the dashboard application. It's an ingenious program with new widgets being released on a regular basis, most of which can be downloaded from the Apple site.

dashboard

Dashboard widgets are created using Hypertext Markup Language (HTML to you and me), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and Javascript. They are simply HTML files that are displayed with the Dashboard layer and use the WebKit application framework that is also used within Apple's-own Safari web browser. The widgets themselves, are capable of doing all kinds of things whether they're an actual task, some sort of search, or they can serve as games... one of the top ten widgets at the moment is a Swine Flu Tracker!

It took me near on two hours to redraw this (click here to view the PDF) or click the actual logo to take you to Apple's very own Dashboard Widget downloads section.

Wednesday 6th May 2009 21:25

It's been quite some time since my passport expired, and I've either not had the time or the money to renew it, until now. It's quite a considerable amount of money to part with, especially if you decide to go along with the Check and Send service which has an additional handling fee. Having said that though, it does seem the most secure way of renewing your passport when you weigh up the huge risks of identity theft at present.

home office

The whole process is done through the Home Office; they're the lead government department responsible for immigration and passports, drugs policy, counter-terrorism, police, and science and research. As such it is responsible for the police, United Kingdom Borders Agency and MI5. Bizarrely enough, in 1793 they added the responsibility of the regulation of aliens and it hasn't been removed since then!
For more information about applying for a passport, click on the logo above.

crimewatch

Anyway, as with every passport application, you need to provide two passport photographs and must meet internationally agreed standards and be a true likeness of you. I wear glasses and it recommends that they be removed if possible. It also categorically states that you must have a neutral expression, your mouth closed.
So, be warned, this is the shot, converted to black and white... roll your cursor over if you dare.

Tuesday 5th May 2009 21:49

I have to say, I've impressed myself over the past 24 hours or so. Not only have I managed to work through my favourite images of our trip to the north west, I've also had the opportunity to work through all of the 150+ images I took whilst we had our recent short break to the Eastbourne area. I've created a shortlist, one of which I've decided to post here tonight - after all, my website is meant to showcase my photography!

seven sisters

Both Tanya and I took many shots of the Seven Sisters whilst we were there and this shot I took has to be one of my favourites.

Monday 4th May 2009 14:47

It's always wise to allocate one day of a Bank Holiday to doing practically nothing. The other bonus is when the weather takes a turn for the worse, so this meant that I could concentrate on updating my blog and actually sitting down and looking through shots I took on our visit to the north west some two months ago!

Here are a selection, and once I've added them to the relevant galleries, I'll link them all up.

atom halo
library heights singing ringing tree
trees and a fallen wall wycoller

Sunday 3rd May 2009 10:33

Whilst on the May Days Arts Trail yesterday, Michael Bury, one of the artists we'd visited, had painted a scene of a place we'd never heard of. We were that intrigued, we asked him where Hengistbury Head was and he told us that it was around the Christchurch area, not far from Bournemouth. We did a little research once we arrived back home and made our plans to go there today.

new forest national park

The quickest and most scenic route meant that it took us straight through the heart of the New Forest Country Park, which meant that Tanya was very pleased, particularly as she loves horses and ponies so much. With it being a Bank Holiday weekend, it meant that the traffic was heavy-going, especially through Lyndhurst. Having said that though, we weren't in a rush.
To find out more about the New Forest, please click on the logo above.

We decided to drive to Mudeford Quay and had a bite to eat in the Haven Café before catching the ferry across to Christchurch Harbour to Hengistbury Head. Unfortunately, it was just too busy to enjoy it as much as we'd hoped to but that's our fault for choosing to go on a sunny Bank Holiday weekend! Nevertheless, once we'd escaped the crowds, the walk around the Head was very pleasant and although it wasn't quite the Seven Sisters near Eastbourne, it was pretty impressive, especially the Sand Martins that were nesting in the cliff tops and swooping down along the shoreline.
For more information about the area and its geological history, please click here.

feelgood drinks company

On the way home, we stopped off and bought some much-needed nibbles and drinks for we were both absolutely shattered. Rather than choose my usual Oasis, I opted for something a bit different and bought an apple and blueberry juice made by The Feelgood Drinks Company, delicious it was too! As it states on the bottle, there are no artificial nasties and is made with natural fruity goodness and loads of lovely vitamin C.
They seem an absolutely brilliant company and their website is very cool indeed... click on the logo above to find out more.

Once home, we sat down and thoroughly enjoyed a new three-part series on ITV, 'Islands of Britain' presented by Martin Clunes. Over the coming weeks, he'll be exploring some of the 1,000 or so islands that are dotted around the coast of Britain. In tonight's episode he travelled to the Shetlands, the most isolated chain of islands in Britain which are closer to the Arctic Circle than to London. Muckle Flugga, was his first port of call, a lighthouse rock which is the wildest and most northerly tip of Britain, where the Atlantic and North Seas meet. Ferocious storms have claimed the lives of numerous sea farers, and it was touch and go whether the weather would allow Martin to travel to the island.
After reaching the most Northern Island martin continues his travels to Forvik, Unst, Eigg and Barra, meeting all sorts of people along the way. Great stuff.

Saturday 2nd May 2009 12:20

If you're interested in arts, particularly painting, sculpture, jewellery and other related forms of media, then a day like today would have been right up your street.

may days arts trail

Every May, for the past few years, Havant Arts Centre organises The May days Arts Trail which celebrates the exceptional talents of artists and makers who live, work and create within Havant Borough. Over the course of three weekends in May, both established and first time artists welcome you to their hidden world of workspaces, studios, homes and galleries, to exhibit and sell their original artwork in a relaxed atmosphere.
This weekend was home to all within the area of Emsworth and Westbourne and was open from 10am - 5pm on both Saturday and Sunday. Next weekend, the 9-10th May will see Hayling Islanders host the event with the final weekend being Havant, Leigh Park and Waterlooville's, held on the 16-17th May.
By clicking on the logo above, it will take you to a page on the Havant Arts Centre website where you're able to download the May Days Arts Trail 09 Brochure and find out who's exhibiting and where.

the arthouse at westbourne

We'd decided to visit every one of the 19 different exhibitors, not only that, what healthier way to do it than by foot? Not only that, the weather was absolutely beautiful which meant that everyone who was involved could exhibit their work, especially as some had had second thoughts due to a downpour overnight.
We started off at The Arthouse at Westbourne where there were many different artist's work on display - please click on the logo above to find out more. Once we'd completed the trail, both Tanya and I felt privileged to have seen the work on display and we both found it inspiring to see a high concentration of exquisite talent within one town. Since the event, I've done my usual research and have included a handful of links to a mixed bag of some of our favourite exhibitors... enjoy...

zen furniture workshop

michael bury watercolours

pippa blake

bobbie bale

Friday 1st May 2009 17:08

What better way to start a Bank Holiday weekend, than with a nice ice cold beer. No, this isn't real ale, it's actually a lager beer but it's superb. I first sampled a bottle of this when I was staying in Singapore and believe you me, it's a far cry from being an average lager.

tiger beer

Since 1932, it has been brewed exclusively in Asia and is Asia Pacific Brewery's flagship brand. At 4.8%, this lager beer has a distinctive taste and is world-acclaimed, having won gold medals in London, Geneva and Paris.
Please click on the iconic logo above to find out more.

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