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 tag “bradford”

12 Jun 2018
3 Comments

Slovenia Is A Country To Visit Soon


Slovenia is less than 2.5 hours away whether you fly to Ljubljana or Zagreb. Zagreb has more flights and Ljubljana airport is nearer of course, however it means an unfortunate visitation to Stansted. 00003250

The drive from Zagreb is around 90 minutes and is painless, but one needs to remember to stop at a services and purchase the Vignette, a kind of road tax that can be bought weekly up to annually. tolls.eu/slovenia

A weekly Vignette is 15 euros. The country is essentially unspoiled and will not remain so for much longer, indeed only the lack of direct flights to Ljubljana exerts some control over this.  Visiting in May, the hotels are all full in the centre and some advance booking is essential. 00003124

For anyone who has travelled Europe , Ljubljana can be described as a cross between Prague and Amsterdam, without the crowds. There is a river through the city alongside most of the eating and drinking goes on. Food and drink is cheap and there is a certain Italian flavour to many of the restaurants, which are surprisingly cheap. A few curious things emerge like giving customers apples, we found them on the table in cafes and bars and also in our hotel. There are some building works going on in central Ljubljana but this does not really impact anyone visiting.  Anyone from UK will be surprised at the cheapness of franks in the bars and also the great service from the bar staff. 0000312700003128

Hiring a car is also cheap and means that in around an hour one can reach any of the borders with  Italy, Hungary, Austria and Croatia. Slovenia also has a very small stretch of beach. Drive down any motorway, which are dual carriageways as we know them, and there are plentiful signs to castles and other amazing places. The Lippizaner horses can be seen, Predjama castle is a must and Lakes Bled ( a little touristy) and Bohinj need to be seen. A 30 minute boat ride on Lake Bohinj in an electric boat that is 62 years old is worth doing.

There are many different walks one can do, around lakes or just through countryside. 00003245

This is a country to visit for a long weekend or even a week. Walking through the city is easy and anyone wanting 10,000 steps a day will find it surprisingly easy.0000327100003272000032700000326700003266 And I have not even mentioned  the amazing street art in  Metalkova in Ljubljana.

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Did I mention the street art?

 

 

 

 

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26 Jun 2015

How to make Birmingham look nice. A fairly comprehensive challenge


Anyone who has travelled to Birmingham will understand that it is as far from idyllic sandy beaches as is humanly possible. The road systems are enough to induce any kind of serious mental disorder, the many industries create novel pollutants and car parking is nigh on impossible. A little bit cruel but you get the picture. So in the few hours that I had there my challenge was to take photographs to make Birmingham look nice. To make it look a place that the tourist industry might promote, in the same way that this was attempted (?achieved) with cities like Bradford.

An hour walking around the car parks of the Hilton Metropole hotel at NEC and the car parks of the NEC found these photos below, well maybe the fruit and the Raspberry Bakewell came from inside the hotel. But this proves that niceness can exist in Birmingham after all.

Birmingham with Pylons

Birmingham with Pylons

Birmingham looking nice

Birmingham looking nice

Birmingham looking nice

Birmingham looking nice

Birmingham looking nice

Birmingham looking nice

Birmingham looking nice

Birmingham looking nice

Birmingham looking nice

Birmingham looking nice

Birmingham looking nice

Birmingham looking nice

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16 Mar 2015

New Zealand X-Factor Judges Sacked


With all the UK nonsense about Jeremy Clarkson and his appalling behaviour, whether we describe it as bullying or not remains to be seen as they alleged crimes from Clarkson get investigated. It may of course come to nothing, but the media portray him as guilty as charged. Over in New Zealand some ddeadful antics from their X-factor judges have led not only to a public outcry but to them being uncermoniously sacked. And from what we read this is the correct outcome.

This is the source of my information.

http://i.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/67416816/x-factor-judges-natalia-kills-willy-moon-sacked?cid=facebook.post.67416816

Husband-and-wife duo Natalia Kills and Willy Moon sacked by MediaWorks for ‘destructive tirade’ against Joe Irvine, 25 is the headline, so what did they do?

Kills criticised a 25-year-old contestant, Joe Irvine, on Sunday’s show for allegedly stealing her husband’s look “from the hair to the suit”. She called him “disgusting” and “creepy” and asked: “Do you not have any value or respect for originality?”

Despite the obvious discomfort of their fellow judges and booing from the audience, Moon joined in, likening Irvine to “Norman Bates dressing up in his mother’s clothing” before suggesting he might murder the crowd.

The conclusion in the media is that this unacceptable, also to the other judges and was bullying.Kills – real name Natalia Noemi Cappuccini-Sinclair – is an English singer best known for her 2013 single Saturday Night. New Zealand musician Moon came to prominence when his song Yeah Yeah appeared on an iPod commercial. The pair married in 2014.Natalia Noemi Cappuccini-Sinclair, better known by her stage name Natalia Kills, is an English singer, actress, record producer, fashion designer and director. She was born, and raised for part of her early life, in Bradford

Even more curiously, Duncan Greive added: “From a pure entertainment perspective we lost something beautiful in Natalia Kills and Willy Moon. They were deeply strange and often unpleasant, but never less than dynamite television. I feel like that’s extremely unlikely to be true of whoever they rope in to replace them.”

Is this acceptable? Showbiz news also reported that these behaviours were not unique.

Natalia Kills lost her temper during an audition taping of The X Factor New Zealand.

The reality show judge started screaming and swearing at the audience, as they were pressuring her to let through a “mouthy” contestant.
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/showbiz/news/a614143/natalia-kills-swears-at-audience-during-x-factor-new-zealand-recording.html#ixzz3UZ1aKNXd

Comments on  Nataliia Kills facebook page are less than impressed by her behaviours . One of the more mildly toned comments went something like this ” have no friends to take pictures of you???? not surprised” and “U are doing it wrong.. Meant to have looped it over your neck and jumped”, in a photo of her swinging from a rope. There is clear anger aganist the pair here. Other comments liken her to Willy Wonka.

Either way it seems fairly settled that the NZ public and their keyboard warriors are no longer in love with this pair.

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19 Dec 2012

Stuart Dallas. Footballer at Brentford. A League 1 club in West London.


In a few years remember the name Stuart Dallas. A young Northern Irish footballer who joined Brentford last summer. He played ostensibly his debut game tonight in the FA Cup win over Bradford 4-2. He had a great game, good skill, good effort and my humble prediction is that he will go far. You heard it here first!

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19 Dec 2012

Brentford are better than Arsenal


Football is a strange game. Last week Bradford beat Arsenal and tonight they were playing Brentford in an FA Cup replay at Griffin Park. This is a game that in all honesty no-one really wanted. Brentford thought they were through to the third round as Bradford got expelled for playing an ineligible player. A minor crime but a crime all the same. For reasons that no-one in football understands the FA rolled over and reinstated them .A chilly night in front of a small crowd, with one side of the ground closed. A decent game which Brentford seemed to want to lose. They gave Bradford their opening goal with a bad defensive error, scored through a penalty on the stroke of half-time, then gave away a penalty in extra time ( though what for no-one in the ground knew), but then decided to score 3 goals in under 5 minutes to win the game. Bradford were actually quite poor in defence and if this is the standard at the top of League 2, then I never want to go back there.

Final score 4-2 to Brentford. The prize? A trip to Southend United on Jan 5th that will not be an easy game. So does this mean Brentford are better than Arsenal? Football is a funny game built on confidence and often some luck. This Brentford team might just be getting promoted this season.

The linesman on the far side was Sian Massey and she looked one of the best linesman we have had.

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