Well hello everyone, yet again it's been some time since I up together a blog.
I always have the plan to put a new blog together but.....and there is always a but, I do not seem to get a post put together.
Well in my last blog. I wrote that it was holiday time again. Well since that blog I have not been on one holiday, but taken two breaks. The first one as I previously mentioned in my previous blog was to southern France and the city of Nice.
Nice is a really nice city. Very expensive as I discovered, and very nice. The only drawback of Nice is that there is no sand on the beach, but large rocks. Mind it still did not deter holidaymakers and locals from sitting on it enjoying the sun.
The city has some great shops, and sitting on top of the hill where he old town used to be overlooking the two parts of Nice and taking in the vista was so nice though.
During our holiday in May at Nice we also went to Cannes via train. Cannes I think is a better holiday place than Nice as it has the sandy beach then it's old town on top of the hill and the newer town which is at sea level. There are loads of great little streets whith lots of tourist shops an regular shops. The day we arrived in Cannes was also the first day of the film festival, so it was smothered in Hollywood people and cameras.
The other trip was to Monti Carlo. That trip was 1 week before the F1 show arrived in town so all the stands, pits in the pitlane and the like we're set up. Surprisingly Monti Carlo was cheaper to buy food in than Nice.
The conclusion of my Holiday is that I would go there again.
The second holiday I took was to Alghero in Italy. It's the second time that I have been there and we chose to go there cos I wanted a holiday where I could crash out.
I am not sure if I wrote about Alghero before, it is a city in Sardinia that as once ruled by the Spanish from the 1300's to the 1700's.
Of course during the summer we had the Olympics. During that time I volunteered and was a travel champion based a Fenchurch Street.
I did not get over to the Olympic Park apart from picking up my magenta and purple uniform. But I met 4 team members of the Mexican handball team, along with 4 team members of the Parraguie handball team. Then I met a Cannadian Swimmer. It's a shame I did not get their names.
Well that was the upside of life. Now to the down side.
While I am writing this blog my grandmother is in hospital. It's terminal cancer I am afraid.
My Grandmother has had a long life and is 94 years old. I will be honest there are not many 43 year olds who have still any of their grandparents still living....but I have been so lucky.
So my Grandmother has seen the world change and has met lots of people.
Before the war my Grandmother trained to be a Salvation Army Officer (like her mother) and that was how she met my grandfather. She gave up being a Salvation Army Officer do she could look after my Great Grandmother when she was ill. Then later on married my Grandfather. There is a lot more to my Grandmothers life to which I do not know about, and I wish that I could know about. But I know that her life has affected so many other people's lives for good reasons and I thank god for her life and the prison she is and has been.
Well I know that this is a low note to end on, but I will be back. When I am I may write more about my grandmother and her life, or more about my holidays.
See you soon.
Sunday 30 September 2012
Tuesday 8 May 2012
Holiday's a coming
Well it's that time of year when people's attention begins to turn towards their holidays. Now for the past three years Nicole and I have been going to Italy, but for a change we are going to go to France. The area that has been picked is the city of Nice, which turns out to be a town that was founded by the Greeks way back in 350BC and was named after the Greek goddess of victory called Nike (Now that gives me a thought...was the sorts brand called Nike also called Nike after the Greek Goddess?). Later on the Town became Roman. Jumping forward now a few hundred year Nice in 1388 came under the protectorate of the Savoy's and in the 1500's the Italian language became the official language of the people's and government....so there you have it dispute picking a place in another country I am off to a place that has its routes in Greece and Italy!!!
Well I will speak more of Nice in a few weeks once I have completed my trip!
See you all soon now
Joolz
Well I will speak more of Nice in a few weeks once I have completed my trip!
See you all soon now
Joolz
Tuesday 17 April 2012
It's been some time!
The reason that I have called this blog 'It's been some time' is due to the plain simple reason of 'It's been some time' since I made my last post!
I have been thinking about what I should write for ages now but then every time I came up with something I was just too lazy to sit down and write!
Anyway what has been happening I hear you say please tell us what you have been doing!
Well the plain simple answer is 'Not A Lot' to quote Paul Daniel's catch phrase. By the way Paul Daniels was a TV magician who appeared on British TV in the late 1980's early 1990's on a Saturday evening hosting a light entertainment show that contained comedy, interviews and of course magic! At that point in time there was still only 4 terrestrial TV channels to watch, and Sky TV along with BSB had only just launched.
So returning back to my blog - What have I been up too? Well I started to learn Italian with a company called City Lit. Well the course was OK in a way but at the same time I was not happy with the outcome, but people keep telling me it takes time to learn a language so I have swapped school and have resumed my lessons....in fact last night was my first one and it went well. I also enjoyed it far more better!
Where I work has gone through yet another re-organisation and there is yet another one due in the autumn. I can understand where these two reorganisations are taking place but it is very frustrating and totally distroys staff moral as they do not know where to turn. But hey a change of Goverment has brought about this set of changes as they want to make their mark!
Take for instance the UK railways. A few years ago now the EU made a law requiring each country in the EU had to open their railways so companies like SNCF could run a train from say Rome all the way up to Glasgow and that there should be a separate company responsible for the tracks. Well in countries like Germany the government created DB Rail and a company DB transport (or near enough to that standard) but both companies are still owned by the German government like wise a simulate situation has occurred in France.....But here in the UK the Conservative government of the 1990's chose to totally privatise British Rail. Now not many people knows this but at the time of Privatisation British Rail used to have the largest privately owned Telecom network other the British Telecom. Well the British Rail Telecom Network was one of the first assets to be sold off from the railway that has meant that the Uk Rail Network has since that point had to hire telecom bandwidths from a private company who now owns the original railway telecoms network!!!
Anyway over the last 5-6 year Network Rail has now had to build a totally new telecoms network from scratch just so in the long term it can save money!
Similar situations will have occurred in the case of the NHS, Employment Services and other areas where the government has partly outsourced departments so leading to the fragmenting departments which in turn lead to higher costs, and also the weakness to be taken over by companies that only want to line their own pockets.
Now don't get me wrong I am not against privatisation, but I believe that there are certain companies or organisations that are best run by the people who know their business from top to bottom but who are willing to hear and explore new ideas, and also should stay within government control but at the same time the government should allow them to run without to much interference!
I could carry on so much more about this subject but I shall leave off that for now!
So what else has been happening?
Still in the News is the Euro and the issues in different countries that are a part of the union. I think that this is going to be a very long drawn out story and it will be nearer 2015 before things settle down.
It was 100 year ago that the unsinkable ship sank so there has been loads of news stories about that.
Then if you listen to Italian Radio you will have heard that the former Primeminister of Italy Mr Berlusconi is in the courts at the moment over some sort of sex scandals it's a shame that I could not understand the news properly as then I could have blogged more about it!
Well next Month I am off to a city that for the past 150 years has been a part of France prior to that it was Italian and called Nizza or these days called Nice.
To be honest I am not looking forward to this break as the Hotel does not have the best write up and it's the first holiday that we are not booking as a package. Well we will see how we get on and I will report back after my trip.
Of course that is still near enough a month away so I may well add a new blog before then.
I have been thinking about what I should write for ages now but then every time I came up with something I was just too lazy to sit down and write!
Anyway what has been happening I hear you say please tell us what you have been doing!
Well the plain simple answer is 'Not A Lot' to quote Paul Daniel's catch phrase. By the way Paul Daniels was a TV magician who appeared on British TV in the late 1980's early 1990's on a Saturday evening hosting a light entertainment show that contained comedy, interviews and of course magic! At that point in time there was still only 4 terrestrial TV channels to watch, and Sky TV along with BSB had only just launched.
So returning back to my blog - What have I been up too? Well I started to learn Italian with a company called City Lit. Well the course was OK in a way but at the same time I was not happy with the outcome, but people keep telling me it takes time to learn a language so I have swapped school and have resumed my lessons....in fact last night was my first one and it went well. I also enjoyed it far more better!
Where I work has gone through yet another re-organisation and there is yet another one due in the autumn. I can understand where these two reorganisations are taking place but it is very frustrating and totally distroys staff moral as they do not know where to turn. But hey a change of Goverment has brought about this set of changes as they want to make their mark!
Take for instance the UK railways. A few years ago now the EU made a law requiring each country in the EU had to open their railways so companies like SNCF could run a train from say Rome all the way up to Glasgow and that there should be a separate company responsible for the tracks. Well in countries like Germany the government created DB Rail and a company DB transport (or near enough to that standard) but both companies are still owned by the German government like wise a simulate situation has occurred in France.....But here in the UK the Conservative government of the 1990's chose to totally privatise British Rail. Now not many people knows this but at the time of Privatisation British Rail used to have the largest privately owned Telecom network other the British Telecom. Well the British Rail Telecom Network was one of the first assets to be sold off from the railway that has meant that the Uk Rail Network has since that point had to hire telecom bandwidths from a private company who now owns the original railway telecoms network!!!
Anyway over the last 5-6 year Network Rail has now had to build a totally new telecoms network from scratch just so in the long term it can save money!
Similar situations will have occurred in the case of the NHS, Employment Services and other areas where the government has partly outsourced departments so leading to the fragmenting departments which in turn lead to higher costs, and also the weakness to be taken over by companies that only want to line their own pockets.
Now don't get me wrong I am not against privatisation, but I believe that there are certain companies or organisations that are best run by the people who know their business from top to bottom but who are willing to hear and explore new ideas, and also should stay within government control but at the same time the government should allow them to run without to much interference!
I could carry on so much more about this subject but I shall leave off that for now!
So what else has been happening?
Still in the News is the Euro and the issues in different countries that are a part of the union. I think that this is going to be a very long drawn out story and it will be nearer 2015 before things settle down.
It was 100 year ago that the unsinkable ship sank so there has been loads of news stories about that.
Then if you listen to Italian Radio you will have heard that the former Primeminister of Italy Mr Berlusconi is in the courts at the moment over some sort of sex scandals it's a shame that I could not understand the news properly as then I could have blogged more about it!
Well next Month I am off to a city that for the past 150 years has been a part of France prior to that it was Italian and called Nizza or these days called Nice.
To be honest I am not looking forward to this break as the Hotel does not have the best write up and it's the first holiday that we are not booking as a package. Well we will see how we get on and I will report back after my trip.
Of course that is still near enough a month away so I may well add a new blog before then.
Thursday 19 January 2012
All Change and Action
Well in 9 days time the 1st month of the year will have passed!
So what has happened in the last 19 days. Well I started a new job (mind the job has a short shelf life of 1 year so I still have to look for another new job.) then I have just completed my first language lesson (my second one is tonight.).
In the world the Euro crisis is still rumbling along, with Greece looking like they are going to default on the loan again. Italy has put in place it's austerity measures to try and cut back on Government debt, and key member countries in Europe like France have had their Credit Ratings lowered. The week before the Credit Ratings were adjusted France was advised the their rating was going to be cut and there was uproar in their government and there was lots of comments saying that Britain should also have their ratings cut as well.
Speaking of Britain...over here unemployment has risen again, the price of living has fallen for the second month and the government has given the green light or permission for Highspeed 2 railway to be built.
In Scotland the politicians of the Scottish National Party are campaigning for full Scottish Independence (which is an old story really but has gained momentum over the last year).
In North Korea the leader died on a train, and his son is now the new leader.
The West are still not happy with Iran as they continue to develop their Nuclear plants. Of course we will not truly know what's happening there as the West will have their point of view as will the leaders of Iran.
Returning back to Europe again now and back to Italy. During the last 7 days a giant Cruise Liner ran aground because of what looks like its Captain showing off to a former ships captain. The captain then fled the ship and has since been arrested........So yet another story to be followed.
Otherwise there are no new stories to report.
So what has happened in the last 19 days. Well I started a new job (mind the job has a short shelf life of 1 year so I still have to look for another new job.) then I have just completed my first language lesson (my second one is tonight.).
In the world the Euro crisis is still rumbling along, with Greece looking like they are going to default on the loan again. Italy has put in place it's austerity measures to try and cut back on Government debt, and key member countries in Europe like France have had their Credit Ratings lowered. The week before the Credit Ratings were adjusted France was advised the their rating was going to be cut and there was uproar in their government and there was lots of comments saying that Britain should also have their ratings cut as well.
Speaking of Britain...over here unemployment has risen again, the price of living has fallen for the second month and the government has given the green light or permission for Highspeed 2 railway to be built.
In Scotland the politicians of the Scottish National Party are campaigning for full Scottish Independence (which is an old story really but has gained momentum over the last year).
In North Korea the leader died on a train, and his son is now the new leader.
The West are still not happy with Iran as they continue to develop their Nuclear plants. Of course we will not truly know what's happening there as the West will have their point of view as will the leaders of Iran.
Returning back to Europe again now and back to Italy. During the last 7 days a giant Cruise Liner ran aground because of what looks like its Captain showing off to a former ships captain. The captain then fled the ship and has since been arrested........So yet another story to be followed.
Otherwise there are no new stories to report.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)