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A personal weblog with photographs and comments. Quiet ramblings, quite rambling...

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It took me 35 minutes to get here via a direct and steep route, and it will take 35 minutes to get back down via a long and more scenic route.

It is starting to rain, so I will get cracking then…

I’m not sure what this is meant to be, but that’s what it suggests to me. I spotted it on a boarded up building in West Croydon last night. It looks like it’s been there for some time.

I don’t know the recipe for this sweet. I watched my friend make it on Sunday. It looked a bit like a fudge, but there’s a gram flour in there somewhere.

This is Hanuman,

one of the most popular Gods in Hinduism and one of the most important personalities in the Indian epic, the Ramayana. His most famous feat, as described in the Hindu epic scripture the Ramayana, was leading a monkey army to fight the demon King Ravana and rescue a kidnapped princess.

Under the belief that this deity is the lucky charm which Barack Obama carries around with him, a group of Indians presented a statue of the revered Indian monkey God, Hanuman, to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. Yes, I know this is old news (and Obama is no longer in the UK) but I was prompted to think of this after a visit to the Watford Manor Temple yesterday afternoon.

It also brought to mind the French expression that you can’t teach a monkey to grimace (so much more expressive than the English version “you can’t teach your grandmother to suck eggs").

Which is why Barack Obama got exactly the same treatment as that other guy (McWassisname) when he visited the UK. The other guy is actually more popular in Russia than any other European country (UK is second). Or should that be “the other guy is actually less unpopular in Russia than any other ....”.

I cycled up the North Down for 30 minutes and have stopped here to take some liquids and admire the view back down over Oxted.

The precise spot, according to Natural England is called Chipstead Downs. They also advise me to look for chalk-loving flowers (hairy violets, bee, butterfly and pyramidal orchids) chalk grassland butterflies (chalk hill blues, adonis blues and dark green fritillaries) and rare reptiles (adders bask in the sun or on bare patches of ground).

In the past I have seen deer here, but on this occassion I see only insects and rabbits.

I don’t think I’ve posted since my return from Berlin on Wednesday night. I noticed on this trip (there was a 20 minute walk from the hotel to the workshop venue) that they don’t share our phobia of cyclists on pavements. Indeed they draw a line down many pavements and share the space quite amiably. On the first morning we were wallking down the cycling section and a cyclist behind us waited patiently for us to notice and make way.

Some streets had the cyclists going one way on the pavement and the other on the road (both via dedicated cycling lanes). This allowed for best allocation of all available space between cycle, foot and tyre. Why can’t London and Surrey be more like Berlin?

I didn’t want to risk it, so I used the stairs. I’m spent another night in this hotel in Berlin.

The workshop went well. We finished everything yesterday but our last session ended ate yesterday evening. I will go back to the UK today and return in two week’s time for the next installment.

From my hotel window near Potsdammerplaz in Berlin there’s a view of an old railway station that was bombed. All that remains is the front of the building.

I am back in Berlin today to run a two day workshop with a client. I’ve some last minute adjustments to make to my materials, then will be ready to roll.

The photo is of that famous Berlin crossing between East and West. Apparently at busy tourist times there are “soldiers” in uniform (American, Russian, German) who will pose with you for photographs (for a fee). 

After the revolution, when Buckingham Palace becomes a similar historic relic, London students can dress as beefeaters to pose with tourists.  However they will not be allowed to wear real bearskin hats.

I find myself waiting at Heathrow for a member of the Australian punk rock band The Corps who is arriving en route to their European tour.  Here’s a review of their latest album Nail it Shut. Their previous album was Itching for Evil.

I am surrounded by people who either seem to have a cold or have strong body odour. According to the arrivals board the baggage for the flight is in the arrivals hall. According to my mobile phone his mobile is turned off. 

This is the interesting question posed by UK Commentator. The papers have all reported that a crazy crowd attacked and injured two “brave” police officers in Croydon recently.

I notice that the police, like soldiers, are always brave in our newspapers’ view of the world. Somehow this only applies to those wearing the uniform of this country and that of some of our allies.  Strange that.

Anyway, are we certain that the media got this story right? Could our “brave” police officers be capable of the kind of brutality that provoked community riots in previous decades? Shurely not!

Regarding the photo above: I spent the day in Croydon at a friend’s house-warming party. On a shelf in the kitchen he has an array of religious symbols to appease him.

Here at the “Top Hand Car Wash” in Nuttall, it’s a quiet day with the rain. There is normally a long queue of waiting customers. And yet I notice service is good because they don’t have to spend as much time drying your car. (One could also make the opposite case).

Something makes me want to rearrange the words on the smart new sign, even if these guys do have “top hands”.

This is a public service announcement.

Although I’m tempted to comment on some of the spelling in this poster, I am reminded of my own lapses in this area.

as funny as the New Yorker wasn’t