Mar 10 2008

Rain And High Winds Hit Southern UK

Category: Friends,In The Media,Personal,Weather — ChrisM @ 10:44 pm

How are people? For those readers not in the UK, the south of the country is currently being hit by quite a bad serious of storms. Click on over here for a BBC report on it so far.

Lyme Regis Getty Storms Wind Rain Britain March 2008 Lyme Regis Getty Storms Wind Rain Britain March 2008 Pembrokeshire Storms Wind Rain Britain March 2008

Winchester Storms Wind Rain Crushed Car Tree Britain March 2008

So, if you have a moment (and electricity and a working phone line 🙂 ), leave a comment, let us know if your area was affected by the 80mph+ winds or the rain and resulting flood waters.

Cheltenham Race Course Damage Storms Wind Rain Crushed Car Tree Britain March 2008

As you can see from that last photo Cheltenham’s famous race course was hit by the winds, with some of the temporary structures in place for the National Hunt damaged. Swansea was also effected, so if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go and phone around friends and family…

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Mar 07 2008

Have You Visited John’s New Blog Yet?

Category: Personal — ChrisM @ 3:26 am

Next time we get over to Swansea (well Clydach to be precise), I need to run through a few processes with John, to do with his new blog. He originally had one hosted with wordpress.com, but decided to buy a domain name and have the extra freedom (and headaches 😉 ) that having his own server to host the files would entail. So, if you’ve not yet made it over to Celt Photographic yet, take a moment to check it out. Although some sections are still work in progress, the main change is that the front page will be an area to display his photographs, although the actual blog posts (which apparently will improve in their frequency) are still accessible. We also have a coppermine photo gallery to play with on a related domain, but as I’ve not delved into that before, I’ll wait until we’re sat in the same room – some things are just more easily done in the ‘real’ world.

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Oct 28 2007

Hard Shoulder = Occasional 4th Lane!

Category: In The Media,Personal — ChrisM @ 9:18 am

I am skipping ahead a little here, as I still need to write the posts on Amsterdam before moving on to Britain, but want to post a link to this article over at the BBC news site.
I had noticed safe refuge areas when I was travelling to Swansea (actually it was probably going to Birmingham airport) earlier this month, and did wonder what had sparked their need. By the looks of it, during times of peak traffic, the hard shoulder will be used as an extra (normally 4th) lane for those motorists who needs to take the exit at the next junction. From a purely selfish point of view, this seems like a good idea. Less traffic, people getting to work/home quicker. However, I have had several incidents in the past where I would not have been able to make it to such safe refuges with my car. Whether a complete tyre blow out, or engines cutting out, there are a few reasons why your car may not be able to make it to the next fenced off area. Although the article does explain that cameras will be monitored to ensure that any blockages by broken down vehicles will trigger the hard shoulder to be revert to its original intended use, I can’t help wonder how many accidents may occur before this change is implemented.
To my non-UK readers, if you get a moment, do let me know if your country has similar schemes already in place, and what you think of them.

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Sep 19 2007

Tentative Dates

Category: Amsterdam,Friends,Personal — ChrisM @ 4:50 pm

I have already agreed with MattG and Miriam about meeting up with them, and have some dates in mind for when I visiting each town of my mini-Britain tour.
As you may have read recently (joke, the Amsterdam flood of posts should dry up in a month or two 😉 ) I am visiting Britain, via Amsterdam in a few days time.
The timetable will looks something like this…


Amsterdam 21st - 24th September

Britain 24th September - 16th October

Cheltenham and Evesham 24th September - 3rd October (approx.)
Clydach (nr. Swansea) 3rd October - 11th October (approx.)
Falmouth 11th October - ???
Amsterdam 16th October (8 hours)
Kazakhstan 17th October

So if I know you, and you want to meet up, feel free to drop me a line. If I don’t know you, and you promise me you are not a stalker or other type of psycho, please do feel free to contact me 🙂
This year will be the first time in something like 8 years that I will be in Britain without a car, so to friends who don’t live near Cheltenham, Evesham, Clydach or Falmouth, apologies. Big thank you to Miriam for coming down to meet up, I really appreciate you making the effort. And yes, this is also a not too subtle hint, Emma and Ramon, you have a car, I don’t now, so get your arse in gear 😉 😛

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Sep 17 2007

Trains, Coaches And Cars…

Category: Personal — ChrisM @ 10:05 pm

OK, so after Amsterdam, I am travelling to Cheltenham and Evesham to spend around a week with Dad & Jan and Cheltonian friends. The next week I am travelling to Clydach, near Swansea to see Mum & John, and then some time after down to Falmouth to see my brother for his birthday (12th October).
With the Cheltenham/Evesham to Clydach journey, I need to decide whether to travel on a train, catch a coach or rent a hire car for the day.

The advantages that I can see of each…
Train – plenty of room to stretch my legs, normally has a little buffet section on board
Coach – get on coach, read/listen to music/sleep, get off at other end, often no changes required, usually cheaper than a train
Hire car – a lot more flexibility with when I leave, taking a rest break and don’t need to worry about my luggage getting too battered/stolen

The disadvantages…
Train – often pricey compared to a coach, most previous journeys I have taken have involved a change of trains
Coach – cramped, no food or drink onboard, risk of noisy/smelly/annoying passenger sitting next to me, at least on busy routes
Car – can be expensive in comparison to the others, need to get myself to the pick up and drop off points (hire car company offices)

So, after a little research, things are not as simple as I hoped. The coach (National Express) doesn’t seem to have a terminal in Swansea, the trains are not running on the first date I was looking at (Bank holiday maybe?), and the hire car company comparison sites don’t allow for picking up a car in Cheltenham/Evesham and dropping it off in Swansea to be entered into their comparison search table.

So, does anyone have any advice?

[edit]
Another option I considered would be to buy a bargain banger with at least a month’s tax and MOT left, and hope it lasted while I was in the UK…

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Jul 27 2007

Trip Planned

Category: Amsterdam,Friends,Personal — ChrisM @ 3:22 am

Unfortunately, ChrisD is not able to make it over to Kazakhstan this year. On the plus side, I am meeting him in Amsterdam for a few days of relaxation, and then travelling onto Britain to see family and friends. (My brother’s birthday is something I was hoping to get back to the UK for, and now it is sorted 🙂 .) Unfortunately Irina does not have enough holiday left to come as well, but we will all be back in Britain around Christmas time.

Anyway, my travel details are as follows :-

Leaving Astana 21st September 08:50
Arrive Kaliningrad 21st September 11:00
Leave Kaliningrad 21st September 12:50
Arrive Amsterdam 21st September 13:55

Spend 3 nights in Amsterdam, at an apartment with a view of the canal, that belongs to the Hotel Amstelzicht.
Then on to Britain…

Leave Amsterdam 24th September 18:20
Arrive Birmingham 24th September 18:40

3 and a bit weeks in Britain to say hello to family and friends. Hopefully fit in Evesham and Cheltenham, then Swansea (well Clydach actually), then down to Falmouth for my bro’s birthday.
Then…

Leave Birmingham 16th October 06:25
Arrive Schipol 16th October 08:50
Leave Schipol 16th October 16:15
Arrive Kaliningrad 16th October 19:15
Leave Kaliningrad 16th October 21:35
Arrive Astana 17th October 05:15

(All times are local)

I am going to miss Ira like crazy, but I am looking forward to the break immensely, and it will be really good to see Nick, Mum, John, Dad, Jan and some Cheltenham friends as well.

Pink Badger

Why that random phrase? One of the main reasons I am posting this flight information is so that if family want to know the details, or I am not at home, I or they can just search for a unique (I’m pretty sure I did not include it anywhere else 😉 ) phrase on this blog, and know they have the right post immediately.
You never know, perhaps pink badger is also a popular search engine search term, and I will increase this site’s traffic…. Not too likely though.

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Jun 15 2007

Back to Swansea Again

Category: In The Media,Personal — ChrisM @ 3:53 am

Came across this article on the BBC website.

A girl in Swansea who suffered appalling burns has received a novel treatment to try and help her recover.
They basically inserted a medical balloon under her healthy skin, and inflated it to create excess scalp, and an area for hair to grow. (Her skin never fully recovered from the burns, and in some places she was bald.) The idea is that once complete, they can deflate the balloon, and farm the skin and hair to use on her affected areas.
Pretty damn impressive!

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Jun 15 2007

One For John’s Friends…

Category: Personal — ChrisM @ 1:12 am

‘Amateur’ sailors will soon have to adhere to the same laws, relating to alcohol levels in their blood, as drivers.
A spokesperson for the Department for Transport has announced that the limits recently bought in for professional sailors will now cover ANYONE involved in the navigation of a vessel thats longer than 23ft, and can travel at more than seven knots.

Not quite so relevant to Swansea based mariners, but jet-skiers are not yet similarly restricted, but this may not last long.

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Feb 07 2007

Congratulations to… (X 2)

Category: Personal — ChrisM @ 1:43 am

1 – Dad for moving into his place in Evesham

2 – John for selling his house in St Thomas, Swansea

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Dec 16 2006

Finished Packing!

Category: Dasha&Kittens,Friends,Kazakhstan,Personal — ChrisM @ 2:28 pm

We’ve been getting ready for our return to the UK, and we’re pretty much done now…

A huge thank you to our family and friends in Britain, who have kept me sane whilst I’m out here, and also to the family and new friends we have made out here in Kazakhstan.

We took Karra (our kitten) over to the in-laws, so she can stay with her mum and sister while we are away. Karra behaved a lot better in her carry bag this time, with only a few mystified miaows in the taxi 🙂

In 30 hours time Ira and I should have arrived in Cheltenham, where I’m staying with Dad & Nick for the first week, and then onto Swansea (well Clydach to be precise) on the Saturday/Sunday (23rd/24th December) with Nick & Ira to see Mum.

Really looking forward to catching up with family and friends; most of our evenings are planned out already in Cheltenham, so hoping we can just kick back and relax during our time in Clydach.

Irina has been allowed some unpaid leave from work, but only received the permission quite recently, by which time, the flights I’m booked on were full, so she is returning to Kz one day earlier, and going via Moscow, whereas I’ll be dropping into Istanbul on the way there and back.

By the time New Year hits us, Nick, Dad, me & Irina should all be in Astana and I’m hoping they’ll enjoy seeing Astana (it will be Nick’s first winter over here, and Dad’s first time ever.)

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