21-02-2012 ... Sian's return

5.00am Arrivals Hall- Terminal 3 Heathrow Airport London

Following a 2.00 am start from Wales and arrival at T3 at Heathrow Airport at 4.15am we ( Debbie, Laura and myself) were in place to welcome the ever so slightly weary 'Aussie' Sian home following her flight back from down under. Bless her, having flown to Launceston, Tasmania for a wedding over the weekend, Sian had to fly back to Sydney ( 90 minutes) and then 3 hours later board the Virgin flight for the further 24 hour flight home via Hong Kong to arrive back in chilly UK at 5.16 in the morning. All involved managed to stay awake for the rest if the day and now at approaching 9.30 in the evening tiredness and sleep is beginning to take over.... the family is however now together again at this very important time for us all.

Thank you to all who have sent messages and cards of sympathy, they are hugely comforting at this time.

Thank you from us all

Paul

19-02-2012

TED Talks are a brilliant resource for all thinkers :-)

This tongue in cheek (or is it?) TED Talk by Yossi Vardi on the dangers inherent in blogging and the use of laptops by men in particular is very funny, in fact it is one of the TED Talks that I regularly listen to again  as are any of the talks by Sir Ken Robinson the TED below from Hillel Cooperman on LEGO is also a great view
I could listen to Marcus de Sautoy explaining Math too me for hours.... these are just some of the myriad of highlights that can be browsed at the TED Talks site
 

18-02-2012

...........on a slow blog day when inspiration seems to wain, I have a tendency to look at my Twitter or Facebook feeds where friends and acquantances are readily expressing their views and sharing idaes. One of my favourites is Judy O'Connell ( Hey Jude)

.... Australian super Librarian, in particular Jude's 'scoop.it'  feed 

Another favourite of mine is the scoop.it feed from the Flat Classroom Project which Lisa Durff manages

The subjects covered by these inspirational educators in the topics that scoop.it sources give fellow educators a rich and focused array of  thought provoking ideas for that ... slow blog day.

Go and Scoop.it for yourself!

17-02-2012

.....children see the world so clearly,  uncluttered by the layers that adults build into their lives. Thanks to Abi aged 6 for the above message.

Jean with son Ant (Ant Howells)  in happier times at the AAODS Centenary Masquerade Ball  ( p30-31 of NODA Magazine) on 4th June 2011.

16-02-2012 Jean Howells

We are all aware I am sure of our own mortality, we have our alloted time here and I believe that the mark of a'wonderful human being'is not only what they contribute to the world. But more importantly on the human level how much a person enriches the lives of those that they come into contact with.
 It is for this reason that I personally would like to say thank you to Jean Howells for having brought the spark of life, vitality and fun into the lives of everyone who knew her. We will treasure our own special memories of Jean, most I am sure will raise a smile..... thank you Jean for sharing your life with us all.
And while our immediate thoughts are of sorrow for the loss,the lasting memory will and should be of a life well lived.
Earlier I was looking through my blog posts from 2010 and found the post below from 15-05-2010 it sums this lady up so well...

Back in 2005, nine members of the family including my mother in law ( who paid for everyone!) went on the trip of a lifetime around China. We visited many of the main tourist centres in the country - Shanghai, Beijing, Xian, Guillin and Hong Kong.

The feast of experiences left lasting impressions on many of us, non more so than my mother in law who became fascinated by the Chinese method of painting. On our return Jean enrolled in a local group in order to learn some of the techniques essential to Chinese Art. The group had an exhibition in a local gallery back in 2007, however in the intervening two years Jean has been too busy ( at 80 y.o.) to return, it was wonderful to see on an impromptu visit this afternoon that after a two year break Jean has returned to the art that she loves so much.

You can see above  the essentials with some works in progress while below is one of the works awaiting framing which depicts a typical Chinese landscape.....it is marvellous to see Jean back in action

..........thank you.

14-02-2012

There was a touch of St Valentine's Day in the air today, from the gift that we received from the local Bel Air Hotel ( sadly no I did not make use of my free cocktail voucher..... I actually headed for the Pathe Bioscope at Scheveningen....

 to see The Decendants, there was a welcome complimentary glass of Champagne for all attendees this evening.

.... my take on the film, I think that it deals with the long loss of someone and the emotions well, it does tend to run slowly with many lingering shots of the beautiful Hawaiian scenerry, and it kind of loses its way when they are searching for the lover....on balance thus far The Artist still holds first place with  The Iron Lady in second, I am looking forward to catching up with The Help and Tinker Tailor..... later this week.

13-02-2012

On Sunday afternoon in an emotional and passionate game, the Celtic giants of Wales and Scotland met on the hallowed rugby turf of the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. The game was open as both teams player expansive fast running rugby. The first half ebbed and flowed and at half time the score was 3-3 with only two penalties having been scored.
In the second half Wales exerted pressure and eventually to dour Scottish defence cracked with a few poor fouls leading to yellow cards being shown. Wales have been notoriously bad at scoring when their opposition is 'men down' ( incidentally Wales are also the team who have the most points scored against them with reduced numbers), however in this match the home side pressed their advantage with the points coming freely. Wales had pulled out a 27 points to 13 lead with 10 minutes left, they managed to hold this advantage until the final whistle. Scotland were unlucky, having clear advantage to score on at least two occasions, sadly failing to convert this pressure into points.
There are still areas of the game which welsh fans would expect to improve, chief of these are the 'flaky' lineout, dodgy scrum ahead of the match against England at Twickenham next weekend.

12-02-2012

The city awoke this morning to the sight of a light dusting of snow and a recognisable rise in the temperature ( the chance to go out without the necessity of wearing a hat/cap!)

The temperature in this part of Europe is expected the rise over the coming week, this makes it all the more important that the Dutch nation made the most of the chill, as could be seen by the prolific use of video footage from skaters on Saturday. The first video is from Amsterdam (posted by Kanaal van ditissander1):

Below is a skater on the Spaarne in Haarlem (posted by : Kanaal van visserjerome)

 

.. and not to be outdone here in Den Haag where skaters were to be seen in front of the Parliament (posted by Kanaal van RalfGTI):

11-02-2012 (Updated)

The Dutch nation appears to have been waiting all week to get to the first weekend for 15 years where many local ponds, waterways and canals are iced over to a thickness where skating becomes possible ( 15cm - 6 inches).....today was the day.

 Locally on the ponds alongside Sportlaan, in Den Haag the families where out early.......

.... it was mainly young families here, with many children under 10 on the ice....

in the centre of The Hague on The Hofvijver lake,  alongside the Dutch Parliament older groups were skating.

Later in the afternoon in Haarlem, near Amsterdam the River Spaarne was frozen over and the skaters were out in their droves again.

...as temperatures are expected to rise above freezing next week (-7C this evening) today and tomorrow are likely to be the only chance that the Dutch will have to recreate their past as create by Peter Brueghel

Mr O'Regan and myself were in Haarlem on Saturday to visit the Golden Age Exhibition at the Frans Hals Museum the promotional video for the exhibition can be seen below:

10-02-2012

Happy Birthday Mon/Brecon Canal

Celebrations have been held to mark the 200th anniversary of the opening of the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canals.
Enthusiasts recreated the original opening of the waterway in 1812 at Pontymoile Basin with church bells sounding along the route.
The 49-mile, canal built to transport coal and iron, winds its way south from Brecon to Cwmbran, Newport and Cwmcarn.
Today it is popular with tourists on canal boat holidays.

At midday a bell was rung at Pontymoile Basin sparking a peal of church bells in both directions along the route with almost 30 churches taking part.
Richard Dommett, regeneration manager for the Monmouthshire, Brecon and Abergavenny Canals Trust, said the canal was flourishing.
"The top half of the canal from Brecon to Cwmbran is open for navigation," he told BBC Radio Wales.
"There are a lot of canal companies that hire weekly holiday trips for visitors.
"There are also a number of day boat hires, particularly at Brecon."
The canal is credited with kick-starting the Industrial Revolution in towns near its route.
Schoolchildren also performed at the anniversary celebrations.

09-02-2012

I was speaking with my mum back in Wales this evening, she was reassuring me that both her, and my dad are keeping warm enough in the present cold snap. They have over the past few years made sure that they have insulate their property and they are certainly reaping the rewards as the cold weather retains its grip in Europe. As you will see above from the Met Office website there is more of the 'white stuff' on the way! I did manage at last after over a week to ride my bike home from work today, it's great to be mobile again and not over reliant on the bus service. All public transport has been packed during the last week as many also decide that cycling is not so practical in the snow and ice.

07-02-2012

The big chill continues on mainland Europe. At 8.00am today the temperature being displayed on a street sign nearby was -13C..... oddly this evening when I was returning home from a birthday supper for my friend Steve O'Regan it felt warmer.... it was only -6C......quite odd really.

06-02-2012

The Arctic conditions sweeping Europe have tightened their grip, with more deaths reported in Poland and Ukraine, taking the toll to well over 200. 
Here in The Hague as you will see above the temperature tonight is due to drop to a chilly -10C.

In the Netherlands, speed-skaters are hoping that freezing conditions continue so they are able to hold an ice-skating marathon along a 125-mile (200k) network of canals connecting 11 cities in the country's Friesland Province.

The Eleven Cities Tour race has only been held 15 times since it was first officially organised in 1909, AP reports.

05-02-2012

View from my windows.... at the front is the extremely icy Berberisstraat ( -4C feels like -9C):

while at the rear ( I managed to keep my balcony doors open for a few chilly moments ( no sitting out here for a while!):

Down the street there are signs of the cold spell, with the ice crystals growing on the bicycle windshields in Volkenboskade:

Also at the Tramhlate - Goudenregenstraat ( the trams are still running, but not quite to their regular timetable as we experience these extremely cold conditions that look set for the week ahead, with further snow forecast:

** Important update Ireland 21 - Wales 23 Result from the Aviva Stadium Dublin this afternoon .... Well done boys [report on the match]

Leigh Halfpenny strikes the winning penalty on 79 minutes :-)

04-02-2012

As the temperature continues to stay well below freezing during the day, dropping further as you see above, we have though not had any further snow since Friday.
Today was such a clear beautiful day that I decided to head off on the 30 minute train journey to Gouda. There was quite a bit of disruption to the railway lines in The Netherlands,  where today at least half of the trains has been cancelled due to the freezing conditions.
Gouda was a joy, from it's medieval central square, where there is a weekly Saturday 'Cheese Market'.

To the impressive  Sint Janskerk ( St John's Church) which is the longest church in the country and also contains the treasure of  The Gouda Windows.

I would recommend extremely highly the GoudaMuseum which remarkably has on show the cartooons used in the making of the windows from the C16 but also an enchanting view of Gouda through the ages - the museum was visited by The Queen in November 2011.

I was also able to have my Breugel moment as I watched the locals taking to the canals for some skating.

Even the local bicycles had become frozen....

03-02-2012

Through this week day and nightime temperatures here in The Hague have been dropping. Thursday night ground temperatures dropped to -7C, and as Friday dawned the darkening skies heralded that snow was on its way. Just before lunchtime and for around 2 hours snow fell on the already frozen ground. Leading to very dangerous conditions for pedestrians and drivers... there was also a marked decline in the number of cyclists braving the conditions.

 It is not only the UK where things can grind to a halt in extreme weather as evidenced by the report below from Dutch News

No trains in Utrecht and Amsterdam as snow chaos continues

Friday 03 February 2012

The heavy snow in the Netherlands on Friday led to chaos on the roads and serious disruption to train services, with no rush hour trains to and from Utrecht and Amsterdam. Elsewhere there were far fewer trains than normal.

At the height of the problems on the road, there were 830 km of traffic jams, making Friday the fourth-worst day on the roads ever.

Rail users organisation Rover said the problems with trains were ‘ridiculous and unacceptable’. Despite the warnings snow was on its way, Dutch Rail (NS) was unable to cope, Rover pointed out.

Up to 14 cm of snow fell in some places, causing serious problems on the roads. By 16.00 hours, some 900 accidents on minor and provincial roads had been reported and the ANWB motoring organisation urged people in central parts of the country not to drive.

Public transport was also affected in The Hague and Amsterdam and some flights from Schiphol were delayed or cancelled.

Skaters rescued as unreliable ice gives way

Friday 03 February 2012
At least 10 people have been rescued after sinking through the ice on the Ankeveense lakes near Hilversum, local paper Gooi- en Eemlander reports.
Hundreds of skaters have flocked to the popular skating area but experts warn the ice is still very unreliable in places. In addition, the snow makes it difficult to see where the ice is weak.
Elsewhere, a number of skaters have been brought to safety from the Ooij polder near Nijmegen. A 35-year-old man has been taken to hospital suffering from exposure.
The snow also caused the cancellation of the first outdoor skating route on the Blokzijler lakes, which had been set for Sunday. The snow has made it impossible to see which parts of the lake should be avoided, according to website schaatsen.nl

02-02-2012

This travel blog photo's source is TravelPod page: Bata Shoe Museum, Toronto

The dutch do so love their ice skating and have for hundreds of years as can be seen in the image below, which is a Bruegel from 16th Century.

The excitement within the country is growing almost as quickly as the ice depth is.....
Dutch News 02-02-2012

The first organised skating route over natural ice will be set up on the Blokzijler lake in Overijssel province on Sunday, local newspaper Stentor said on Thursday.

The local skating club says the ice is now eight to 10 cm thick and three more nights of heavy frost will increase the thickness to up to 15 cm. 'There are some weak bits caused by the wind but we can skate round them,' a spokesman said.

Many ice clubs have already opened their outdoor rinks but the wind has meant many stretches of open water are still too unreliable for safe skating.

Canals

In Amsterdam, the city council has banned pleasure boats from using many city centre canals in the hope they too will freeze over for skating.

The big freeze is set to continue for the next six days at least, and there is a 50% chance of it continuing for the next 10, according to the KNMI weather bureau.

But the snow expected on Friday makes it unlikely the ice will thicken enough for an Elfstedentocht - the spectacular 200 km race between the 11 cities of Friesland. The event was last held in 1997.

01-02-2012

Article from Dutch News 01-02-2012

Ice fever heats up in Holland Wednesday 01 February 2012 As soon as the temperature drops below freezing, ice fever hits the Netherlands. Skates are sharpened and enthusiasts monitor the weather forecast closely in the hope that it will be cold enough to skate outside. Video link The big question on everyone's lips is always, will there be an Elfstedentocht this year - the marathon ice race between the 11 cities of Friesland over a 200 km course. The last edition of the skating marathon took place in 1997 and natural ice enthusiasts have been looking wistfully at their skates ever since. The ice has to be at least 15 cm to host the race, which attracts thousands of entrants. Low odds This year, the odds are slim. The Volkskrant quotes weatherman Marco Verhoef who thinks there is a 25% chance the race will be on. ‘We can’t predict if the ice will grow sufficiently’, he says. ‘But if I had to say yes or no at this moment the answer would be no. And the ice will have to be extra strong to carry the spectators who will come to Friesland in large numbers.’ Television presenter Jort Kelder says if the event does go ahead, it should not be hijacked by commerce. ‘The Elfsteden marathon is an event for the people, like the dip in the sea on New Year's day. It’s not for sausage makers’, Kelder, a vegetarian, told chat show De Wereld Draait Door. Kelder is referring to smoked sausage maker Unox which supplies the intrepid swimmers with free Unox hats, generating massive publicity for the brand. Races While the weather forecasters are still out on the prospects for a long freeze - and there are signs the temperatures might rise towards the end of next week - skating enthusiasts are already taking advantage of what ice there is. The first outdoor races have already been held -without the Dutch outdoor champions. The warm winter has forced them to head for Austria to stage the annual Dutch outdoor championships. NRC journalist Arjen Fortuin (half Frisian) describes what it feels like to skate on natural ice. ‘Proper skating is done outside, on natural ice, with real holes, real cracks and real cold. If you push off gently, your skates straight on the ice, you hardly make a sound. It’s no more than a short soft scratching noise. 'You hardly move: you sway, gently pushing away the ice with your feet. You don’t seem to do anything much at all and yet you fly like a comet. Somewhere in that combination is the element that makes long distance skating so addictive.’ Keep warm Meanwhile, experts are warning that the ice is still very thin and there are still many large patches of open water where the wind has stopped the ice from forming properly. And as the freeze continues all the papers carry the list of do's and don’ts issued by the authorities in case, as the KNMI has predicted, it will feel like minus 15 Celsius this week. Know what the weather will be doing, wear a hat and gloves, wear proper shoes, and wear layered clothing. Never go out in the car without a coat, a sleeping bag and a fully charged mobile. Keep moving and avoid the wind, look out for elderly neighbours and feed the birds.

31-01-2012

...Wow, the end of month one, 31 days into the daily blog post routine. I must admit that getting back to blogging on a regular basis is rewarding in many ways. I have maintained my rather eclectic mix of rants followed by more regular photo blog posts. Of course this means that any audience of the blog have to wade through an amount of obscure posts to perhaps find something that is mildly interesting.
Looking back at blog stats ( Blogger stats are impressive) I know that the most popular blog posts over time have been tech related, my praise of the Asus Netbook still being the most visited along with others along the same lines.
It is sad that at present even though I still remain facinated by 'tech stuff that I feel somewhat distanced from my former 'classroom based use of new tools and apps, I just loved attempting to make the new tools at the time relevant in a teaching setting. I was pleased as you may surmise when Mr Gove the UK Education Secretary finally admit what many had suspected for many years - that the UK IT or ICT curriculum was not fit for purpose. For years many of us who believed strongly  that using technology to create content and to connect was the way to inspire these skills in our pupils was the way to go. The only shame is that a generation of puils will have gone through our schools believing that technology was 'boring'....... which teaching to the curriculum definitely was. It was only by cutting loose and allowing creativity in that pupios became inspired .........we nearly lost the 'Facebook Generation'  - I hope that this lesson has been learned at last.

30-01-2012

I don't very often show my political leanings, however listening to PM on Radio 4 this evening where there were discussions on 'What the Police are for?' in the UK, two points were discussed which left me speechless.

The first was a politicians answer given by Theresa May recently when asked about the number of UK police on the 'front line'.....the Home Secretary's response was that the percentage of policemen and woman on the beat is to rise from 68% to 70% since 2010.... a good thing? In fact due to staff cuts the 70% is a higher percentage of a smaller number of frontline staff (2,500 less than 2010)... see Mark Easton's blogpost: More means fewer.
The second double take was on the issue of the extremely serious crime of anti social behaviour, where the Home Secretary appears to be saying that if the police receive 5 compalints ( from 5 different households) regarding the same incident of anti social behaviour that the police will have to take action!!!! It does of course beg the question, what happens if you are the only person to make the complaint? Will anything happen or will you be advised to get your neighbours to make a complaint. Surely this makes a mockery of modern policing.
In fact the most high profile cases in the UK where vulnerable individuals have been persecuted to the point of taking their own lives, neighbours were largely unaware or unwilling to make complaints.This new rule would have been completely unable to help!

I think that I may have got this out of my system now!

29-01-2012

I hope that the two images in my blog post today are not signs of aging? The weather forecast for the coming week shows the possibility of night time temperatures down around -9C as a winter high pressure system sits over Europe blocking any milder air..... as I do not presently have my regular bed warming device ( Debbie!) it can get mighty cold...especially the toes! The Electric Blanket seemed to me a practical way to overcome this? ( I have justified it in this way anyhow!)

 I am much more confident that the second image (another of my purchases today) shows 'good taste' in music rather than impending old age. I heard snippets of some of the tracks from Leonard Cohen's new album  'Old Ideas' along with reviews from some respected critics on the BBC 2 Review Show on Friday evening.... today I couldn't resist buying it, and having listened to three tracks this afternoon, I was not wrong. I would recommend those who appreciate hearing a voice steeped in life experiences singing some pretty blunt lyrics should consider Cohen's latest offering ( not so sure of the LC illustrations on the sleeve notes!).

28-01-2012

Those who know me well, will be aware that over the past 44 years through thick, thin and thinner I have been a long suffering supporter of Liverpool FC. This week has been one of those weeks when all Liverpool supporters are allowed out to crow a little... having had a good week of results over our 'friends' along the M62.....

 .....earlier in the week Manchester City were vanquished in the League Cup semi final, setting up an excellent final against Cardiff City at Wembley.... and today a victory in the F.A. Cup (2-1)against the 'old enemy' Manchester United... at Anfield of course.
I was very lucky when up in Liverpool in September 2010 to take a tour of the hallowed 'Anfield Stadium' for the first time in all my years as a fan, sadly I have still never seen a match at the home of my heroes!

It was somewhat saddening to see the state  of the environment outside the ground, it is quite a dismal area of the city with many rows of boarded up houses, and of course the club do want to build a new stadium ( for the 21st Century) .... but in the ground you can almost reach out an feel the history of a ground which has changed little over the decades.

The Kop stand

The Home Dressing Room

The European Cup (2005) :-)

I think that we are allowed to make some noise this week :-)  ...... I look forward to seeing at least one match at the stadium soon!