Free Fall

I think I am the master of the constructive time waste - perhaps only Big Pete (and possibly Russ) is a contender for the grandmaster title. I had a nice long weekend to get my "Ethics and Planning" essay written - something which is tedious beyond belief...I don't really understand what exactly 'deontological' and 'consequentialism' are, nor do I care. But somehow I've got to write a 2500 word constructive argument on this before wednesday. I managed to get to 1200 words this weekend after optimistically predicting on Thursday that it would be all done and dusted by Sun...so a few long nights on Monday and Tuesday are looming - just what I want to do after a hard days work...

Russian has been in free fall over the last 6 months. I haven't made any attempt at any form of passive or active study since about October. In Moldova last year I really struggled getting a conversation properly going. I don;t think I could even string a few words together now.

This is why I know that it's pointless me even bothering with the Mcr Run. I just don't have the disipline to do any training....anyone have any tips??

Back on track

This blog (like a number of others) seems to have drifted towards a more political slant recently, so back to it’s roots – travel for the next couple of weeks.

Hopefully use the couple of days off at Easter to go on a little trip somewhere using the absolute minimum of holiday time. Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary and Slovenia are the main contenders with CZ looking the favourite. Though if this was the case Prague wouldn’t feature on the itinerary much-although it’s very pretty it’d be heaving with tourists and it’s not really Czech Republic anymore, more a kind of Czech Disneyland. Cesky Krumlov, Cesky Budejovice and either Telc (or a poss trip to Vienna) would be the main attractions with a good mix of castle and brewery tour...maybe Mr T could pick up a few tips....

Hopefully a week in Greece in either June/July or September.

Spain in August. It will be the first time I’ve set foot in Spain since Menorca, 1989 and mainland spain since Almeria, 1987.

Then Northern Croatia/Slovenia looks appealing, to try and go a bit further up the coast than we went to last year…I was also hoping to re-visit Bosnia this year and could do with my annual fix with a trip to the former Soviet Union, but I'm prett much streched to the limit with holiday time and some tough choices will have to be made. Sweden may not get a look in this year...I probably won't be able to meet Borat in Kazakhstan for a year or two...and China will have to be put on the long-term waiting list.

10 Minutes

I'm fairly new to YouTube, but stumbled across this the other day. I think it won the best European Short Film in 2002. The first two mins or so are a bit dull. The footage isn't real, but it has a realistic feel. I suppose the moral is, you've had a bad day etc...but in the grand scheme of things is it really that important...