roller blading - take 2

it was such a long time since the first try that i asked Mr. J. to come with me again. this time, we went to the other side of the lake, where there's a longer straight and flat bit that is better for inexperienced people like me. and after 15 minutes, i was actually ok. i was not holding onto him anymore, which did my balance a world of good. but it's weird how sometimes i felt i had the movement down pat and felt my centre of gravity was where it should be and i was doing really well, while at other times, if i thought about it too much (or not enough), i'd lose the position and nearly fall over.

nevertheless, we did well. a lot more than back in June anyway! we also went faster and i only fell in the last 15 minutes, first when i froze over a change in the texture of the pavement and a second time when i'd grown so confident that i didn't realise how fast i was going while trying to turn. i'm gonna have another set of killer bruises tomorrow... amazingly though, i didn't run into anyone and we crossed the narrow tourist-ladden bridge without too much trouble. and altogether, we covered nearly 5km going back and forth along the lake. admittedly, it's not very much, but it's a lot more than the 1km back in June, and let's face it, i'm still having trouble with going up or down. but really, i can't wait to do it again!

computer issues

since we changed IP in May, we've had several computer issues. but since last month, things have been getting a bit annoying for me. out of 6 computers in the office, only mine has this one problem. the last time i'd called the support people, they'd told me to call back when the problem reoccurred. which i finally had time to the other day. but the guy was so infuriating! after 5 minutes, he told me this was just the way it was, the way the system was set up. when i pointed out i was the only one having this problem, he said there was nothing he could do about it, because that was just the way it was.

i've always been polite to people on the phone because let's face it, they didn't create the problem i'm having. but honestly, i wanted to kill this guy. so i cut him short and said thank you before i started shouting at him. arghhhhhhhhhhhh!

car problems again!

i got a brand new battery 3 months ago, which had been checked just before i went on holiday. this didn't stop it from dying on me after just 2 weeks of sitting in the garage. and of course, it actually happened on a day i really needed the car for work (to be fair, though, it had never happened at a critical time before, so i can't really complain...)

anyway, after asking a few friends what they thought the problem could be, i finally took it in to get checked at the garage. and that was just epic. i asked for an MOT with an additional check to see where the leakage could come from. and it was clearly written at the top of the quote i signed. but when i went to pick up my car, and therefore asked if they'd found the problem, they had no idea what i was talking about. i had to re-explain the whole thing and leave the car an extra day. when i eventually got it back, they hadn't found the source of the leakage, but pointed out once more that the battery was under warantee, so even if it did empty out again, i'd still be able to get a new one.

yes, but that doesn't really help me, now, does it? i mean, if this happens again, i'll still first have to find a nice neighbour who has a car and is willing to spent 5 minutes helping me jump start mine. so now i basically have to make sure i drive the car regularly so it doesn't just die on me again.

Bollywood in the park

movies in the park. it's great. except i didn't go this year cos it was so packed with people. but last night i went. anyway, it was Bollywood night. and it was fun!

we started with a picnic. the weather was great and the view amazing. not a cloud in the sky, the moon was nearly full above the Alps and the lake, and the dusk light made the water amazing. while it had been very warm during the day, the night was decidedly cooler, though, so i was glad i'd brought a blanket!

before the movie, we were treated to some dancing. according to my Indian friends, it was quite good, too! then the movie finally started: we saw Jab We Met (which apparently means 'when we met') and it was just as crazy as expected. and the nice thing about movies in the park is the fact that everyone makes their opinions known, clapping every time there was a dance and when the guy finally got the girl. it really was fun.

course landaise 3

the other guys in these 'races' are the jumpers, who jump over the bulls instead of 'stepping aside'. they make various figures, including somersaults.

course landaise 2

so this is what it looks like. here, the bull has just passed the 'ecarteur' (literally, the one who moves away) and you can see a small cloud of dust on the ground. the 'ecarteur', meanwhile, has done his figure.

going somewhere?

8.15: alarm clock rings. time to get up. it's a bit hard after not so much sleep.
9.30: time to leave. catch a train into the main station, then another one to the airport. luckily, the torrential rain from last night didn't affect my part of the journey, although it clearly affected northern Copenhagen.
10.30: check in. am told the flight is delayed 2 hours. well, it's easyjet... but it's the middle of the day, so no big deal. plus, that way i get to do all the shopping i wanted. i also, amazingly, get a food coupon. not that DKK35 will get you very far. that's not even the price of a whopper in Denmark...
12.15: find out flight is delayed another 5 hours! that's 7 total. ok, that's ridiculous. would have gone back into town, except i'd already done everything i wanted/needed to do, friends all have other plans and frankly, that would mean spending more money.
1.00: found a 'resting' room with nice comfy easy chairs. perfect. lie down and doze off while trying to read a book.
4.00: decide i should check on the flight status. also, need to pick up my second food coupon.
4.01: find out flight now leaves at 5.30 instead of 7.30. great news! that way, i won't get home too late, although i still won't actually have the time to do all those things i was supposed to get done.
5.35: waiting for a few remaining passengers. presumably, they went back into town.
5.50: captain informs us they'll disembark the missing passengers' luggage.
6.15: captain informs us the handlers can't find one of the bags so we all have to go out through the back door, point at our bag(s), and back up the front door.
6.55: captain informs us that he's very shocked. it appears the company dealing with the handlers has decided that, since our flight is already quite late, the handlers really need to deal with the other planes' luggage and thus ours is still sitting to the right of the plane. he's speechless and has even been in touch with London to put pressure on Copenhagen to do things by the book.
7.20: luggage is finally being put back on board.
7.45: finally, FINALLY, we take off!

rain!

it might be August, but the weather definitely isn't great. it's been raining quite a bit. they'd predicted 11mm during the day, but it started at 4pm and just didn't stop. we thought it'd quiet down after 2 hours, but no. it just kept on going. and we were going to another part of town that K. always got lost in. in the end, i decided against wearing the waterproof shoes, folded up my jeans and put on some flip-flops. and off we went. getting lost was just part of the adventure! but let's just say we were quite soaked by the time we finally got there.

by the time we got home, it was barely letting off. we found out later how much damage had been done. the pictures were quite amazing. i'd never heard of flooding in Denmark. well, not until a couple of weeks ago, when some basements were flooded in southern Jutland. now it was the northern Copenhagen area.

time off

as i wasn't meeting anyone this afternoon, i decided to take a train up to my grandmother's place. i hadn't had time to take a walk in the surrounding wood when we emptied her flat 2 years ago, and i really needed to get out of the city. and it was great. a lot shorter than i remembered from my childhood days, though. what seemed like a good hour as a 13-year old turned out to be about 15 minutes! it was a lot longer to walk to the wood... after that, i went to the beach. or what was left of it. it was high tide, so the beach was about 10 centimetres wide. so i sat on a stone while waiting for the bus that would take me for a ride along the coast. unfortunately, they stopped the buses that ran all the way back down into the city long ago, so i only got as far as the next little town, where i had to take the train back.

welcome back!

i'd found out 2 days before arriving that neither of my bank cards worked. i'd kept both, just in case, despite the letter informing me that the first one was now useless, but i thought i'd try anyway. as it turned out, though, they'd cancelled the second card because i'd never used it. yeah. difficult to use when you're not in the country...

so anyway, as soon as i got off the plane, before i picked up my bag, i went to the bank to get some money. then, as i was waiting for my luggage, i turned on my phone. but apparently, not having easy access to money was not going to be my only problem. my SIM-card was inactive. just great. i'd have to stop at the main station to get a new one.

i finally got my new card and was able to send off an SMS telling K. i was on my way. but there again, things weren't going to be easy. it turned out something had gone wrong 2 stations up north, so it was total chaos. after i found my train, on another platform altogether, another 20 mns went by with us just waiting for it to leave. finally, i made it to my friends' place. the holiday could start.

course landaise

as we are in Gascogne, the course landaise, a show akin to bull-fighting, but which absolutely isn't bull-fighting, is very popular. here, the principle is basically either to avoid the bulls (or cows) by nicely stepping to the side with a little torero flourish, or to jump over them. no harm comes to the animals, even though the men who practise the sport are sometimes hurt - in fact, two of them were nearly mauled, but got out of it in one piece and even refused to see the doctor. those were the parts of the show that i didn't enjoy, as i really feared for their lives. but other than that, i really got into it, and at the end of the 2-hour show, i believe i was able to understand some of the 'rules'.

the concert

apparently, a group of young singers from the Royal Danish Opera would be giving a concert in a small church, about an hour's drive away. so off we went. after a failed dinner attempt in nearby St Clar, a lovely old town where no dinner could be served before 8pm - which was too late for our timetable - we arrived at the church of St Leonard very early. i was starting to wonder whether this had been a good idea, but finally the singing started and it was good. they sang from the French and Italian repertoire, airs that i recognised and others i didn't. and the pianist was really excellent, managing to sound like an entire orchestra. the whole thing lasted more than 2 hours, at the end of which we were invited to join some of the guests to an after-concert get together where some food and wine were served. it gave us the opportunity to have a chat with the singers - well, mostly one of them, really - and the organisers, respectively the director of the Opera Singing School and the head singing teacher there, who also happened to be man and wife.

holiday diary

half-day 1: left Geneva, about 30°C and bright sunshine. landed in Toulouse, 22°C and rain. great start to the holiday. why is the weather not cooperating with me??

day 2: got up late. spent a lot of the day editing a text for my father. well, i got as far as 6 pages, as the translation was a bit all over the place and the program kept freezing on me every time i tried to save the document. later in the afternoon, on the way to the supermarket, we stopped by the château where my father will be holding his 70th birthday party. met the owner, a lovely man about my father's age, who offered us coffee before i was told to have a look around the place. this all took quite a while longer than the 'quick stopover' it was supposed to be, but it was nice.

day 3: got up 'early'. spent quite a bit of the day reading. weather on and off. at this rate, there won't be a temperature shock when i get to Denmark next week.

day 4: spent quite a lot of time looking over the planning for the birthday party. how many guests, who was staying where and what the weekend programme would be. we had to stop when we got to the table plan, but will continue tomorrow. the owner of the château joined us to dinner, which was a nice break.