Category: notes

23:55 – 22 ºC – rain, refreshing

I passed my motrbike test the other day. A horrible business in Spain – driving around a series of cones before negotiating a 5 m long, 6inch wide raised iron bar. I saw several people fail on this part of the exam, including one poor girl who was moved to tears, before finally managing to pass the test myself. Incredible… I was sure I was bound to fail. So now I am in the market for a medium sized motorbike. Luckily I have my friends at motos.net to help… this is the power of the net, where everyone is an expert in something and happy to help anyone with questions. Great.

So, should it be a honda cbf 500, or a suzuki? It’s all academic really as I haven’t got a penny to spare! Still, por ahora tengo la Vespa, asi que… paciencia…

Saturday afternoon, 7 p.m., 34 degrees in the flat. This country is crazy.

One minute it’s a nice kind of spring, (almost literally a minute, spring is usually as short-lived as it is pleasant – i.e. very), and the next thing you know, bang! mid-thirties all day and all night long. It plays tricks on the brain, the siesta becomes a total necessity, not just some funny Spanish stereotype. Worst of all is what my wife has just informed me is known as a ‘Bochorno’ – heavy weather, formation of cloud, very hot – but there’s no way it’s going to give in and clear the air with a nice burst of rain.

Damn it’s hot. And this is only the beginning, from here on up into the 40’s – yipee!

Hoodie ban for violent teenager

Much as I love it, the internet used to worry me, I thought it may have the power to turn us all into recluses, shut up at home ‘surfing’, or blogging away to ourselves… But quite the opposite is occuring. Forums, blogosheres, yahoo groups – they are bringing people together in person, not just in cyberspace as I had once feared. For example, local motorcyclists are meeting other motorbike enthusiasts through forums, and organising weekly bike rides around Madrid; last week I heard a podcast with Clark Boyd, a BBC podcaster from the states who was interested in meeting podcast listeners whilst on a trip to Spain, and indeed we are set to meet up in a couple of weeks. How the hell did people ever meet other like-minded people in the past? Well, I suppose it justy took a little longer…

So, it’s no longer just lovers and conferencing bloggers that are getting together via the net – there’s a big shared interests thing taking off here and I think it’s going to be big. Thank God – I thought for a minute that the net, despite all its wonders, might become a hinderance to a large part of (social) life as we know it….

Podcast – 25th May 2005 !

It’s another Notes from Spain podcast! This one is basically a terraza cast rambler including:

• How to get in touch
• A surprise from the porter
• Views from the roof of our building
• This morning’s bomb, the end of advertising and the dumbing down of tv

Click here to listen (16mins, 7mb).

A helicopter has broken all height records by managing to land on everest. How cool is that? I would feel a lot safer now if ever I decided to climb it….. hmmmm…..

One of those hectic days characterised by translations and more translations.. and trying to fit in a driving lesson and a morning ‘job’ teaching (without actually teaching but hanging around a lot…)

So I’m off to see the Revenge of the Sith, although I have to say that I could live without it… I’ve got a podcast to make god dammit! Maybe when I get back. Continuity is the key! It’s 28 degrees outside, at half past eight-ish (p.m.). Just got an email from a friend of ours in London, a Spanish girl who has just moved over there with her husband. She says “Por cierto. En tu pais hace muy mal tiempo!!!” – By the way, in your country the weather is terrible!!! Poor girl, she doesn’t know the half of it – this is May, wait until she gets to November 😦

OK, off to the cinema, the podcast will be coming very soon…. on the off chance that someone actually listens…

In the meantime, if you’re bored, check out flickr and have a look around.

These links all appear in my technology article in June’s In Madrid newspaper – there’s some good stuff in here:

www.wikipedia.org – the people’s encyclopedia
www.flickr.com – nose through the worlds photos
www.ourmedia.org – show your great grandchildren your talent
www.ebay.com – beats the Corte Ingles
www.bbc.co.uk/radio – for BBC Radio Player
www.elmundo.es – best free news in Spain
www.boingboing.net – the weird and wonderful
www.guardianunlimited.co.uk – award winning on-line news
www.newsgator.com – control your news feeds
www.bloglines.com – choose your news, search endless blogs
www.blogger.com – start your own blog / column
www.blogspain.com – join in Spain
www.audible.com – at least two free books
www.skype.com – the future of the telephone is here
www.scripting.com – the blog for net people, podcasters and bloggers, like me

Been away at a wedding in Italy for the past 4 days so there has been a bit of a blog-gap (is this the excuse I need to get some kind of wirelss pda, for airpost hotspot blogging? – the wife thinks not…) Anyway, back now, so hope to get things back on track….

It’s another Notes from Spain podcast! This one is basically a sound seeing tour taking in:

• A trip on the Metro
• Football at the green bar
• Prostitution on the Calle Montera
• Saturday night at the Puerto del Sol

Click here to listen (20mins, 9mb).