My third and final musing over Milan. Whilst walking outside the Milan Convention Centre where an ADHD congress was taking place, a group of maybe 200 protestors aged from 5-60 years. Placards, balloons and a huge inflatable buffalo. The signs do not make sense to me but generally seemed to be protesting against ADHD. No idea why. A lively group but not really threatening at all.
View from Bedroom window. Sheets or large underwear?
This post I have to admit is a little unfair as being there for 2 days spent most of it underground in a conference room, cut off from the world seemingly. Awful telephone reception and little better wifi connection ( which at least was free). And then when one factors in a 12 hour sleep, to recover from missing a night, you can agree that my views of Milan are not exactly complete.
On balance I was not enthused about the city. The trip from Linate airport to the hotel did not inspire me and neither did the driving ability of the taxi driver, who gave a decent rendition of having ADHD. Those who are not familiar with ADHD just need to understand that the key symptoms of impulsive behaviours and/or inattention are not ideal qualities in a taxi driver in a busy city centre. The first learning was that pedestrians who step onto a crossing should consider a few things. Making a will would be obligatory and consideration to not crossing would also be a good judgement to make.
The streets were not full of colourful fashionistas nor shops and the restaurants did not make me want to jump out of the taxi. The same process was repeated on the return journey. The positives? Well certainly not the costs. Lets talk cocktails, not that I was offered any. In Spain where I was sunday night, a Pina Colada would cost 3.50 euros, and in the hotel here 11.50. The fact that they were advertising their drinks and prices in the elevator suggests they considered these prices reasonable.
On a positive note the food was good. A large lunch buffet and a meal of Salmon in breadcrumbs with aubergine that got me thinking it might make a good dinner party dish.
Rooms are always small in Italian hotels but this one really was. The view from the bedroom window was not exotic but did make my mind question whether what was hanging out was sheets or rather large underwear.
So I make my biased and unfair decision that Milan is off my holiday destination list. But lets give it a second chance as I am returning on friday and hopefully may see a little more. I may even take my camera.
Not too shabby a hotel. The entrance from the main road sweeps around through a golf course until the hotel entrance is reached. The morning of this photograph it was foggy and with a little play on the computer I ended up with this which I may well use as the title slide to one of my talks.
Worsley Park Marriott Hotel Manchester
Worsley Park Marriott hotel. The mist of Manchester
Sometimes travelling for work has its pleasures and this is one such occasion. A routine British Airways flight was turned into a great experience by being upgraded to first class. Nice service and nice staff. Worth paying for? Definitely not. Save your money for your hotel room in Dubai. This hotel The Park Hyatt is superb. every little thing is special. The free coffee machine in the room, the two Danish Pastries left for an early morning arrival, the staff showing me how various things work in the room ( like the coffee machine). The balcony overlooks the marina and at sunset looks gorgeous. Not quite a Cayman Islands sunset but not too shabby either.
The Immigration process was not too bad either. Decent numbers of officials, quick entry and then quick exit from the airport. Terminal 5 please take notice. Busy enough but not too chaotic, so all in all a great first impression. Some unusual birds pecking away on the lawn next the marina, bizarre colourings, have no idea what they are. Now wishing that I had brought my cameras…….
But work to do, an ADHD talk to write. 
Strange but true. Brentford ask a minimum of 1£ only but you can choose what to pay if you buy your ticket beforehand up until 4 pm friday evening. Why are they doing this? Perfect sense. They have around 2000 season ticket holders, who do not begrudge them doing this at all, and will make it up to their season ticket holders later in the season with some offer one suspects. So 2000 have already paid. The expected crowd for a home game the saturday before Xmas is never high, maybe 5000 maximum and possibly lower. Stevenage will not bring armies of fans and most likely will bring around 200-300 only. Folks will not pay 1£, they are likely to choose to pay a median amount of between 5-10£ in my opinion.
So a good PR activity, a good day out. Lets hope this works. A few years ago a home game versus Peterborough was sponsored by a company (maybe St George Homes?), and they essentially made it free to get in. Result, great crowd,great atmosphere and home win! So spread the word and call Brentford to buy your tickets over the phone or online. Lets fill the ground. Already two sides have sold out, so don’t delay.
Having spent the last 48 hours mostly in Manchester I feel sufficiently able to appraise folks of my findings. These are not exciting but might save you some time and money. Firstly, the issue of paying for wi-fi in hotels. Let me list some reasonable places where wi-fi is free in no particular order, McDonalds, USA,Italy, Munich Airport and the Worsley Pub next to Worsley Park Marriott hotel. Now a game. Lets find a place where they charge 15£ for 24 hours wi-fi. Yes you guessed it the Worsley Park Marriott hotel and in fact all Marriott hotels in UK ( as far as I am aware). This is a disgrace. So my first recommendation is yes to stay at the Marriott hotel ( its rather nice and not overpriced) but instead of eating or drinking there, walk 200 yards to the pub next door and eat for less than the cost of the wi-fi.
My second recommendation is to avoid central Manchester. Signage would be better in Antarctica. The roads are crowded with folks all giving good impersonations of intractable ADHD, not able to wait at red lights, junctions or anywhere in fact.
My final recommendation is to avoid the Palace hotel. A miserable excuse for a hotel. everything was bad.
Good things? Norton Caines Services on the M6 Toll are the best I have found this year. But avoid petrol there. I can buy my diesel for 137.9p at my local south london Esso garage. Diesel at Norton Caines was 152.9p. Put it another way. Filling my tank there would have cost me an EXTRA £10.
Not Manchester but in fact a view in January 2011 from outside a hotel in Coventry on a cold morning
I cannot recall ever have gone here before other than a brief trip 5 years ago but today this was my work trip. Driving into Clacton it strikes you immediately that this is an old persons town. The WestCliff theatre, that sits nowhere near either the west nor a cliff advertises bands such as Hermans Hermits ( whom I thought actually were all dead), and the average age of the street folks is in the 70’s. But it has a nice feel to it. Perhaps surprising is the number of school age children around on a schoolday. Either in the amusement arcades with parents I should add or on the beach. Why are they not at school? Social workers would have a field day here. The morning weather was not too bad, sunny and cloudy each in turn but in the afternoon the rain just came down. Lunch was taken in a cafe at the end of the pier, which seemed almost a replica of Bourenemouth pier. Very nice sausage and chips, cheap too. The sea was rough but not terribly so, the beach was kind of inviting.
I came away thinking that I could happily cope with a summer day here on the beach and the pier, the cost of buying a wristband for unlimited rides on the pier a mere £14. I think i like Clacton On Sea. I would really like to get closer to the windfarms, they fascinate me.
I have called this photo the Black Sea
And why not at school?
For some unfathomable reason I have done little travelling this year such that this mornings early morning visitation to Heathrow reminded me what a shocking place it is. Crowded, with people pushing aimlessly, expensive and generally not a good place. However thanks to Lufthansa and Adria Airways I reached Slovenia mid-afternoon and on time.
I was taken to Lake Bled for lunch which is potentially a tourist spot about 45 km from Ljubjana and had a nice large schnitzel by the lake. The thing that strikes one immediately about Slovenia is that it is calm and the people seem happy. They also seem remarkably young compared with New Malden.
This evening however is work as I set about distilling 110 slides into a sensible 45 minute talk on Adult ADHD for tomorrow.
The river that runs through Ljubjana
Northumberland is a fine county and places emerge that are wondrous and enchanting. One such place is a small hamlet about 3 miles inland from Seahouses called Chathill, not so far from the A1. Here there is a small manor house that has a tower built in its grounds. The tower hosts amongst other things a huge bell and a prison cell. Entry is on a trust basis and costs maybe £2 placed into a wooden box. The tower is well worth entering and up on the third floor one finds that you are on the roof and above the bell. Be warned, the bell is loud and midday when 12 chimes emanate it is an experience for sure. The views over the countryside are splendid.
As you can see below photography can be great here. The views over the fields can be like a Turner painting , the weathervane became an inspirational slide for one of the talks I give on Atomoxetine for ADHD and the flying Cello photograph should not be here as has nothing to do with Preston Tower, but my current favourite slide.
The grounds also host some nice walks through the forest and one can take a number of routes. a decent 2 hour walk can be had. On the last occasion there were some odd noises coming from a field that turned out to be piglets in very playful mood that follow you as you walk along the path. Most occasions we have been there we were the only souls so it cannot be described as busy. This place is a real find. Visit and enjoy.
chris1957
Arcticterntalk.org 