Bad blogging

I suspect that this blog is slowly dying as I don't have the time to write anything and I can't write about the things that are keeping me busy as they are 99% work related.

I may be changing job internally or externally - TBD

In the meantime, I am very happy with my new hat, a Christy's crushable fedora in dark green which is rather smart and somewhat Paddington like when paired with my duffle coat. I was happy to find that hats are still made in the UK and that I don't look (or feel) like a total tool when I am wearing it.

You may not agree, but I don't care.

Offal Day

I'm in Paris at the moment.

We arrived on Monday night and I had a big block of fois gras for supper.

Yesterday I had a day of risky food choices. First came the Plat du jour at the local restaurant for lunch, it was a burito or boudin noir - blood sausage. I opted for the boudin noir which was deliscious. In the evening Thomas and I went to a very nice little restaurant that we found on trip adviser. I started with pan fried fois gras on brioche with raspberry sauce followed by veal kidneys which were also delicious.

All in all, a good day with great food.

Sailing injury.

It's sore

Swimmers

J has been promoted to the Dolphin team in the swimming club which means that he now trains twice a week and will be taking part in competitions. He is really excited about it all and it's great to see him so enthusiastic about a sport as he didn't really seem to be into floorball or gymnastics too much recently.
He celebrated by buying a new pair of swimming trunks with a voucher that he got for his birthday but I'm not posting a picture since I remember how many hits there were on the shot of him in pink tights...

Manifesto

I enjoyed reading John Durant's book about the paleo manifesto recently and it got me thinking about a personal manifesto based on the increasingly eccentric way that I live my life. Maybe one of the points on the list should be to embrace eccentricity without disappearing up ones own orifice and being straightforward weird.

One of my new ideas is to make a big effort to take a step back from being such a consumer. As stuff gets cheaper, then the lifespan of said stuff seems to get shorter and shorter. Maybe I can get more satisfaction out of owning things and appreciating them as the weather and get a patina rather than always wanting something shiny and new. I was stuck by the thought reading a book recently when the character was quite unhappy and uncomfortable having had to buy a new hat having lost his old one.

So my first step is going to be to concentrate on only buying things that I need rather than want and concentrating on buying quality things, preferably made either locally or by companies who look after their workforce in a way that I would like to be looked after as an employee.

Example 1 - my new Chapman Bags holdall that was made in Cumbria (except I didn't need it as such...)

Quiet times

There is a LOT going on at the moment in the world of work so there isn't much going on in blog land.  Maybe more to follow...

Make a little pot of sauerkraut

Where do we start on this one?

A week of early mornings

According to my fitbit (fantastic birthday present) I slept for 4½ hours last night out of the 5½ hours I was in bed.

I got up at 3:40 because I wasn't going to sleep any more before my alarm went off. I cut my hair, showered and left the house at 4:10 to go to the airport. I'm in Holland now and I'll be home again at 11ish tonight before leaving again at 6 tomorrow morning to go to Manchester and then a final 4:00 start on Friday to come back to Holland for another workshop.

I'm shattered already and need some healthy food for the rest of the week after having to give in to the sandwiches for lunch. Damn it.

Climbing and bouldering

Yes, there is a difference. As far as I can see, when you're climbing, you go higher up so you use ropes, harnesses and the like. Bouldering is more technical and closer to the ground so you just hang on as long as you can and when you fall, it's not far and there's a very soft floor awaiting your arrival.

We all went to CPH Boulders for a spot of the latter on Saturday afternoon. It was intended as a dry run for J's birthday party, but as they won't accept kids birthday parties, it turned out to be simply a family trip. We all really enjoyed it, there were easy and hard routes and plenty of space for the kids to play between climbs (or problems as they are apparently called when you're bouldering)

CPH Boulders is in the process of moving into this new location so it was a bit of a building site, but there was a really friendly atmosphere and we'll be back again. One of the consequences of that last statement is that I just ordered a pair of climbing shoes today because I had the largest pair they rent out and found them crippling so I found a bargain pair online and they're on their way to me as I write this.

A sign of autumn

When MK gets the tea lights going at breakfast, then you know that the summer is over.

Bouldering in Copenhagen

We had a family trip to Copenhagen today to see what the place was like. Fun was had by all.

MKs fantastic running shoes

Mallorca

We had a compant trip to Palma de Mallorca last week from Thursday morning to Sunday afternoon. The sun shone, it was hot and we ate good food and drank good wine without being stretched too far in terms of work. All in all a great trip and once again, I was reminded how good the Spanish are as hosts and how well they make food and wine.

Mallorca was a very pleasant surprise for me, I am sure that there are some grotty parts of it, but what we saw was nice and rather like Provence.

View from the terrace

Big palm

Sign on the hotel terrace

UN City stairs

I am working at the UN ion Copenhagen at the moment. The building is quite nice, if not too exciting. However the staircases are fantastic and I am having quite a lot of success making my colleagues use them too.

Ready for winter and skiing

First real school day

We were sailing...

The weekend's sailing activities were more or less a success. Nothing broken and I wasn't last. I would have liked to finish higher than 45th out of 50, but I didn't and that is probably because I have hardly sailed this year for one reason or another (illness chiefly).

Not much activity

Danish championships

I'm sitting in a tent on my own whilst it rains outside. I should be out sailing in the nationals but after a short trip out in the boats this morning, we were sent in because of thunder storms and circling winds. It looks like there will be ok sailing today and tomorrow looks like being flat too. Saturday is promising very strong winds so there is a risk that we don't really get any sailing done at all.
In the plus side, it's a nice place to be.

All set for the nationals

Holiday Snaps

Concert in Durango

Mesa Verde ancient cliff dwellings

Somebodies Arch near Moab, UT

Under the Arch

Hiking in Eldorado Canyon

Climbing kids

DK on his way up

Home and Jet lagged

I was up at about 4 this morning having given up on sleeping after 2 hours lying in bed awake. I guess I'll be tired again tonight though.

We had a fantastic holiday in Colorado (mostly) and I'll post some pictures in the coming days when I get them downloaded from the camera.

We spent a few days around Boulder, then headed to Leadville, Durango and finally Moab in Utah on the way home before a final few days in the Front Range again.

Off roading in a rental car?

No, not us, we'd never do that...

View from the hut

The hut

Pneumonia

Turns out the the month long flu had morphed into something more nasty. I have infection in my lungs and sinuses. Thankfully the penicillin is helping already :-)

Ninja turtle cake

I have no talent for cake decoration at all!

With broccoli

Coconut milk
Banana
Apple
Blueberries
Cooked broccoli
2 carrots
Water
Tastes good

Soothies not to try

This morning's smoothie was not a hit

• coconut milk
• 2 carrots
• cucumber
• blueberries
• not so green banana
• water
• almonds
• stevia

It started looking nice and blueberry coloured, but quickly turned brown and tasted primarily of cucumber and carrot. Even MK wasn't impressed.

I'll try again tomorrow and see if I can improve on it...

Breakfast smoothie

Have a look at the other blog for the ingredients

Nearly 3 weeks

I can't remember ever having a flu that has lasted this long. I am still coughing and snotting (as MK would put it) and now have block sinuses so I can't hear very well either. I am still taking it easy in the hope that the virus leaves me alone in time for our holiday but I am really missing getting some exercise and I have lost a fair amount of muscle since it hit me.

Maybe tomorrow I'll be up to a bit of a workout, but tonight it's sushi night as J isn't home.

Back at work

I don't know what virus I have been fighting for the past 14 days, but it's fair to say that it put up a good fight and I still haven't beaten it.

I fell ill in Bristol 2 weeks ago today. Since then I have basically been lying around waiting for it to go away. Normally I would expect something like this to be done in 5-7 days, but this has just lingered on and on.

Anyway, I am back in the office today and hope to be fully back in action after the weekend provided that things continue to get better.

Jeremy the clown

At the nursery party last Friday.

Second ear done

We got a cancellation appointment for DK to get his right ear done yesterday so he now has the permanent drains in both ears and he's ready for summer and starting school.
I still have flu after 12 days and I'm glad I cancelled the travel plans for this week at work.

DKs summer knee trophies

Still ill

I got flu last week when I was in England for work - I guess I picked it up on the way through Heathrow Airport, but I can't believe how long I have been ill.

I left the office on Thursday afternoon, I worked Friday morning and traveled home in the afternoon and evening. I was then sick all weekend and Monday. I went to work yesterday, but left in the middle of the afternoon feeling sick again.

Now I am home again and still have a fever, feel crap and sleep really badly. I suppose that it is getting better slowly, but I ran out of patience 2 or 3 days ago.

Now we can work standing up at home too

Well Denmark didn't qualify!

A very full English breakfast.

Low carb and rather good at the Avon Gorge Hotel in Bristol.

Fishing trip success

Exciting day out

Yesterday DK had a somewhat unexpected operation in his ear to put a drain under his eardrum. It seems to have been a fantastic day out!

Insect bite under the eye yesterday.

Looks like he's been fighting!

These will be strawberries in a few weeks

Big Prayer Day

Have a good day off, if you're getting one.

Last, last, second to last, last.

Actually, despite being last on the water in the last race, I was second from last as one guy had gone home with some technical issue.

That was how my Saturday sailing went.

An early start to pick up my boat on the way to Kastrup and on the water by 10 for 4 planned races in the Polyester Cup (I have no idea why it's called that).

I really didn't perform well in the first couple of races. I make too many mistakes and each of them costs me a boat length or so. I don't really understand how I have gone backwards so much since last season where I could get to the upwind mark with the other boats rather than being last from beginning to the end of the race.

I did manage to make some improvements in the last race by simply working much harder upwind to get more speed out of the boat. It should have been obvious that  would help, but I didn't figure it out until the last race. Having passed 5 boats on the upwind leg, I then proceeded to hit both of the buoys and had to do 2 penalty turns, thus immediately losing the places I had gained. Bother.

Winning at life

It at least at finding interesting sticks to play with