Arcticterntalk.org

The blog of a travelling psychiatrist and football lover. Who happens to be a halfway decent photographer. Takes a cynical view of the world

Archive for the month “February, 2016”

28 Feb 2016

Walking Rescue Greyhounds in Hersham. Great exercise and Great thing to do


On sunday mornings a great way to get some exercise and be helpful is to take a trip down to Turners Lane in Hersham where Hersham Hounds/Wimbledon Greyhound Welfare have their greyhound kennels. The kennels are home to maybe 100 greyhounds at any one time.

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Humphrey. A gorgeous greyhound who loves everyone

 

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Home for the Greyhounds

Many walkers walk anything from a single pair of greyhounds to as many as eight. A thoroughly recommended way to get anything from 4-8,000 steps in Fitbit terms.

 

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Turners Lane Hersham

 

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Muddy Fields

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The walk by itself is pleasant down the lanes. The field nearby show evidence still of the excess amount of rain of the last month and some of the fields are pure mud. One feels sympathy for the horses stabled there. The area is also home to many parakeets that take southeast England as their home, with their noisy chattering quite obvious, and flying around in small flocks of maybe 4-10 birds.

 

In the past the life of a greyhound at the end of its racing life, 4-5 years was not terribly optimistic but rescue groups such as WGW/Hersham Hounds work hard to ensure socialisation of the hounds and training for re-homing. Many dogs are rehomed though some are scarred and have idiosyncrasies that make it more complex.
If you do decide to come down and walk the greyhounds do remember to bring personal and address identification as this is needed to “sign-on”.

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28 Feb 2016
1 Comment

Paintings of Bergen in Norway


More paintings by the British artist Vincent Van B. Bergen sits on the Norwegian coast and I struggled to be captivated by it, in contrast to cities like Stavanger that have something special. Here are a few paintings designed to try and bring Bergen to life and light.

Few interesting turrets floating around. 000000450000005000000065

Posted in Travel EU, Uncategorized and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
28 Feb 2016

Green Cauliflowers.Where have you been all my life?


Today is the first day of my life that I have seen Green Cauliflowers for sale. An article in the Daily Mail from 2008 describes green , purple and orange cauliflowers as not genetic engineering but derived from selective breeding. Although the colours seem unusual it is not the first time that plant breeders have changed the appearance of vegetables.
Until the 17th century most carrots eaten in Europe were white, yellow or purple. The orange pigment was added by Dutch plant breeders looking for a way to celebrate Holland’s royal family.The last few years has seen the introduction of purple carrots to supermarkets in Britain, along with yellow tomatoes and purple potatoes.
In America, where colour cauliflowers have been available for several years, they have been a big hit with foodies. The orange cauliflower has higher than normal levels of beta carotene, a form of vitamin A that encourages healthy skin.The purple colour comes from anthocyanin, which may help prevent heart disease by slowing blood clotting.
Tests of the orange cauliflowers in America found that they contained 25 times the concentrations of beta carotene in normal cauliflowers.

So what do we know about green cauliflowers? There are two types of Broccoflowers. The first type seen here has all the attributes of the white cauliflower but with green curds. The second type is more a visual cross of cauliflower and broccoli.  They are hybrids of cauliflower and broccoli, both members of the species Brassica oleracea, making them fully cross compatible. The cross is easily made by hand pollination or natural pollinators. Green cauliflower can also be found under the name broccoflower or cauliflower broccoli. Green cauliflower is higher in protein, at 2.95%, than either white cauliflower, 1.92%, or broccoli, 2.82%

The photograph below seems in fact almost to show both types of green cauliflower.

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Green Cauliflower

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27 Feb 2016
2 Comments

Photographs of 24 Hours in Amsterdam


Amsterdam is in my opinion the most photogenic city in Europe and maybe the world. Despite having been there with cameras numerous times there are always things to photograph and see. With only my I Phone this time the weather changes were immense ranging from snowing to sun in 15 minutes and cloud formations to match.

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This time however I took more than a passing interest in the amsterdam graffiti, or graffiti art depending upon how one visualises this option. Graffiti was everywhere including in the urinals that adorn the canals. One knows they are urinals before entering them from the odour de latrine that they ooze for many yards. The question that resonated in my head was who painted the graffiti in them, why did they do it and even how did they do it?

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The Graffiti on the walls was far more eloquent and spoke to a lot of thought before painting. I have posted many blogs already on Amsterdam and the risk is repetition, so I have attempted to minimise anything previously photographed and take views or views from angles that are new. Like Penguin graffiti. A real new experience for me.

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The place was wet and this was easily determined by how much rain fell on one’s head but if that judgement felt unsound then the standing water on the tram tracks gave a better explanation.

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Wet Tram Tracks Amsterdam

Vondelpark is always beautiful but less so on a grey day, however with a little sun it begins to show its charm. However the muddy paths showed again how wet the last few days had been.

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Gates of Vondelpark Amsterdam

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Vondelpark Amsterdam

Even Central Station joined in the fun looking grand in the warm light with the clouds looking like they were dancing in the sky.

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Amsterdam is truly a beautiful city and just an hour walking along the canals it does not matter so much which direction one walks, just remembering that the canals are best thought of as onion rings outside each other and eventually leading to Central Station.IMG_2038IMG_2033IMG_2032IMG_2015

And if you cycle there which has its positives and negatives in terms of enjoyment and death risk, it might not be so easy to remember where you left your bicycle.Unless you left it next to the penguin graffiti in which case it might still be there. Maybe

Paradiso is a world famous music venue but one would never know that from the outside. An old church converted into a music venue in which many famous names have played. Including Lady Gaga, Duran Duran, Joy Division, David Bowie, Suede and Rolling Stones, amongst hundreds.

Paradiso Amsterdam

Paradiso Amsterdam

Posted in amsterdam, Cities EU, city of culture, Uncategorized and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
26 Feb 2016
2 Comments

Cheap Football Is Possible.Cost of £7.90 per game in The Championship. Huddersfield Town Leading the Way in 2016-17


The costs of football have been spiralling out of control in some clubs, the recent debacle of Liverpool trying to recoup a few extra pounds on a few extra seats and in that process pushing prices up to £77 have been well reported. As have the fans response, by walking out of a game and the subsequent result was a retraction of that ridiculous pricing.

The Championship side Huddersfield Town have however followed other clubs like Bradford City in making their season ticket prices so cheap that it remains to be seen the numbers that will take up this offer. For next season 2016-17, adult season tickets are priced at £179 for the first 10,000 season tickets sold. The rationale is mathematically simple. Championship clubs have an extra 2 million pounds TV revenue next season, and Huddersfield are diverting 1 million of that to fund this season ticket pricing reduction. This equates to a per match cost of £7.90 which is often less than I might spend in the tea bar at half time at Brentford on a burger and tea.

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This is affordable and in fact brings the cost of league football to be cheaper than non-league. Many of the lower tier ” proper” non league clubs ( by which I really mean have a few stands and maybe terraces,and do not play in essentially roped off fields, trying to be descriptive not rude here!) who live at the Ryman league standard or above , charge £8-10 entrance, Molesey 8£ if I recall correctly and Carshalton 10£ ( both recommended by the way).

An interesting scenario and one we should watch avidly to ascertain the take up in Huddersfield of this exceptional offer. Other clubs should take note. Watching the Cardiff V Brighton game on TV last week one might be excused for thinking that the ground was empty as the cameras focused on the lower tiers only. Would it not be better to fill the ground? Numerous aspects are possible. Reduced prices for televised games? Buy one get one free? Free food, drink and a programme?

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Bradford city are a class example. A club in League 1 not looking like an immediate return to the Championship is likely. For 2015-16 season their season tickets cost £149 for 23 home games. This is £6.50 per game, again little more than lower non league entrance costs. And this was actually £50 cheaper than the 2014-15 season ticket cost. Perhaps the only surprise was that junior season tickets were priced at £99, when a lower cost might seem a logical way to enhance the younger fan base. Especially with the curious meanderings at nearby Leeds United, for those not local these two cities share an airport, Leeds-Bradford airport. And anyone who might be cynical that this is a short term option consider that Bradford City have been running this cheap season ticket scheme since 2007 when the adult season ticket cost was £138.

 

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25 Feb 2016
2 Comments

Which World Famous Music Venue Is This?


The only clues are the following bands have played there:

  • Rolling Stones
  • Lady Gaga
  • Duran Duran
  • Suede
  • Adele
  • Joy Division
  • Florence and the Machine
  • David Bowie

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24 Feb 2016
1 Comment

The Clouds Lift Over Griffin Park. Brentford 3 Wolves 0


There is no doubt that Brentford have been a spiral of disaster the last 2 months, and this is reflected in the win ratio of 1 win in the previous 9 games, and in the plethora of negativity that followed the Derby debacle on saturday. Something had to change.

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Clouds over Brentford seen while flying in for the game

Fans arrived late as often they do for an evening fixture giving the impression till almost the last minute that there would be no crowd. In fact almost 9000 hardy souls braved a bitter and literally freezing evening to watch an entertaining game.

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Griffin Park By Night

There was little agreement before the game on what the outcome might be and even less agreement on the team selection other than something had to change to bring back the fighting spirit and work rate that we saw earlier in the season. In reality the summoning of two of the best players in the club, John Swift and Sergi Canos gave the side width and skill, and Nico Yennaris recovered from a hideous performance in central midfield on saturday to have an excellent game at right back. The work rate in midfield was probably double that of saturday and from the start the elevated work rate and the chances created got the crowd going. In the end a 3-0 victory did not flatter Brentford and it should have been greater. We must not however lose site of how abject Wolves were. Watching the game it was difficult to believe that they had 40 points this season and sitting seemingly in mid-table security. They were poor, very poor. Never the less a good performance that should keep the crowds interested for the remainder of the season. Yet margins are thin in this league, with Brentford comfortably winning 1-0 in the second half, only a superb save from David Button kept the Bees ahead. Conceding a goal then might have led to one of the many Brentford collapses we have seen this season.

Were there any downsides to the game? Only one for me. No cornish pasties. What kind of football catering does not have cornish pasties, forcing me to sample a Chicken Balti pie, which I can sum up as saying could be a vegetarian option lacking anything I could find that resembled chicken. Edible none the less.

Lastly a strange emerging feature of watching Brentford lately. As the crowd streams out of the New Road stand, a group of 2-3 steward looking characters in cheerful fashion thank the crowd for coming and have a safe trip home. Brentford are emerging into the customer service era and will achieve that for me when cornish pasties return.

So the gleaming clouds were an omen and indeed the sun was truly shining on Brentford and their fans at 10 pm last night.

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The Skies above Brentford before kick off

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Clouds Gleaming over Brentford

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Floodlights over Brentford

A final thought. I will miss this old ground when it goes. We know it has to and understand why but the character and atmosphere is what sums up real football , even in the absence of cornish pasties.

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23 Feb 2016

24 Hours in Urban Madrid 


Spain is one of many countries that I love and regularly visit . I always leave with a sense of wonderment as to how so many old men survive into later years to smoke their cigarettes and drink their beer.

A recent short trip to Madrid strongly brought this home.  There are few countries and recently I can only mention Switzerland where cigarette smoking is common. Here in Spain most streets smell of tobacco and piles of people are commonly visible outside their places of work puffing away. Even I was caught by surprise and maybe a little horror to find an ambulance parked in a Main Street and some of the paramedics and maybe a medic even openly smoking away.

 The alternative way to die young might be through some of the strange fast driving that seems obligatory here. Even the taxi drivers give a good impression of the Indianapolis 5000 and their are plentiful taxis everywhere.


 Madrid I am told is a beautiful city but I was reminded that even beautiful cities have urban areas that cannot be described as delectable. My hotel is described as being near the city centre which translates into a 30 minute metro trip I was told . Although this does seem rather long .

Lastly I was reminded of a few of the quirky things that are common  in Spain. Serving lukewarm coffee seems the norm brewed for extra strength overnight and lukewarm food. None of the breakfast items could truly be described as hot food.

 

 

This is Spain and this is what they do. I love coming here and hope one day to see some of the more beautiful architecture for which Madrid is renowned .


 For now some of the more interesting urban architecture will have to suffice. The large office shaped block with an interesting spiral external staircase and the block of flats with colourful balconies.

  Making even this urban area look interesting. Finally a Mexican restaurant caught my eye as I was searching for street graffiti and graffiti art of which curiously there was none. The first European city I can recall for some time where these are absent. A large painted mural advertising La CheLinda. No idea what the Spanish version of Mexican food might be like but would be tempted to try based solely on their external efforts.


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23 Feb 2016
6 Comments

Has Iberia breached any safety regulations? And why such awful service?


Contrary to a few recent comments I am not a negative person nor grumble my way through life. However my flight on Iberia yesterday from Heathrow to Madrid  does go down as one of the worst ever. I do not often fly with them and plan never to in future but I would throw out two questions.

A generic  first question. Is their service always terrible and terrible beyond belief.  A more specific second question. Are they breaching air regulations by having no one seated in an exit row?

Let’s start with the second question. An Airbus 321- at the first set of seats adjoining the emergency exit on the right hand side of the plane there was no one seated there. On the left there was one person. I do not know the specific rules but suspect that someone should be seated on either side to operate the emergency exit doors. During the flight I saw this a number of times and it was not a case of someone temporarily departing for the lavatory. The seats on the left here clearly show no one seated nor apparently in theories in front and behind. imageimg_1926img_1925

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The service was dire. There was no welcome aboard. Okay that will not kill anyone but this was a pattern of the flight. No service. No one offered any food or drink  and when a few of us asked other passengers it seemed a trolley had been zoomed so fast up and down such that no one was aware of the service.  I noticed as it was one of the few occasions where I did want to buy food and drink. In fact the only other time I saw anything resembling service it was the duty free cart being pulled through .

A visit to the toilets situated at the rear of the plane showed clearly the activities of the three crew. One was eating a nice looking meal that I presume was a business class meal. One had her head in an IPad. The last one was reading. All seated at the back hidden from sight of all the passengers. Zero attention to the passengers. Zero attention to anything except themselves.

I have not witnessed such a pathetic attempt at customer service and plan not to again with Iberia. But again the safety angle comes to mind here.

 

The last attempt at customer service was almost amusing. A stewardess at the exit to the plane I presume saying goodbye but it sounded like a repetitive chant that one might hear when a record gets stuck. A voice devoid of inflection or effort. Put simply I don’t think Iberia bothered yesterday and maybe that was why the plane was half full at best. My recommendation? Avoid Iberia until they start considering basic customer service as the norm

Anyone with any thoughts?

Posted in Travel EU, Uncategorized and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
22 Feb 2016
2 Comments

The Absurdity of Business Class travel on short haul flights in Europe


When selecting a seat in economy it is an Imprecise art to know where the business class section will end. So on occasions like today one is unfortunate to be sitting in the row immediately outside business class meaning that the ridiculous curtains get pulled across . This is not the happiest nor optimal view of a flapping curtain a few inches in front of ones face. But even this today reached hithertoo unfathomable heights or depths because each time the curtains opened a millimetre the air stewardess rushed towards them to rescue the curtains and pull them closed. This presumably is to protect the business class passengers from visually having to witness their foul economy class cousins or maybe to prevent some supposedly plague ridden air entering the cabin of the elite. This of course is utter nonsense. Business class is dead in short haul and frankly anyone who wastes money on this needs counselling .

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What do you get for your extra money? You get exactly the same seat as on this Airbus 321 operated by Iberia the seats are identical. You might get a spare seat next to you. Where I sit in row 6A I have two spare seats next to me as do many on this empty flight. You get a meal of some sort normally a salad related affair and on Iberia free drinks too. But is this really worth paying for? Usually an extra £100 per flight maybe more. All the frills of easier check in become pointless as most are done now on the mobile phone. But even if checking in luggage there is no preference over the frequent flyers  who use the same check in and indeed board the same time. So the reality is you get a curtain drawn behind you and food and drink . Not terribly special and uplifting.

Meanwhile my view is almost claustrophobic  but I do get to count the number of times the rushing sprinting stewardess recloses the badly behaved curtains. Somewhere in the region of once every 10 minutes on this Madrid bound flight. Comedy and cabaret are free to all on board. However I was able to sneak a view into business through the gap and I could see 30 seats occupied by 4 customers.

 These curtains do actually swing back and forth and I can imagine that folks seated in the aisle seats might not enjoy being continuously massaged by the errant flapping curtain.

 Business class for short haul is absurd as is the thinking behind it now.

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