22 June, 2004

Good morning, it is 7.10am, Canada time. This is a really quick one to let you all know that we arrived safely yesterday. I am now off to get some breakfast and then R and I are off to Hamilton to meet with the Vision 2020 coordinator. Can't really tell you much about Canada, except to say from the brief glimpse I got as we travelled on the coach to the hotel that it looks a lot like Sydney.

Well, it's almost over!!
I am in Heathrow duty free area, waiting to get my boarding call. Then it is off to Narita then home to Sydney!!
I did the bus tour around London this morning after both L & R left for Chicago. It was a good tour, but, I think it would have been better if L was with me :-(.
For £1 I get 15 mins on here, and it is a very stiff/hard keyboard to use, so I will "sign off" for now, and update in Narita!
Cheers
B

18 June, 2004

Hi Folks,
Well I am in lovely Liverpool with my Auntie Pat. This afternoon, I was taken to the Cavern Club:- home of the Beatles!
It is quite cold here, but nice all the same.
We also went to where my dad grew up, which is where auntie Pat has recently moved out from! I was also taken to the church where we thought dad was confirmed, but after looking through the records to find his confirmation entry, we found both Pat, and also uncle Bernard (whom by chance was Bernard James Patrick! I have also taken Patrick for my confirmation as well!!!)
Well, I had better go now, I hope all is well with you Louise over at Furness Vale tonight, and will see you tomorrow afternoon!!
Cheers
B

16 June, 2004

Hi all, It is 1.54pm in lovely Leicester. We are right on top of the technology - I am emailing from a Caffe Nero through a wireless connection whilst we have our lunch. We have visited with the Council and are grabbing a bite before we head to the Leicester Eco-House.

We have not been able to post any blogs for a couple of days as we were staying in a bed and breakfast without a phone connection. It was a really georgous place, in the heart of squirrel country (and I should mention the hare, one was in the backyard last night but not interested in the piece of bread I had). I have some funny stories to tell about it but will save them for later or when we get back. I need to be really quick as R needs some internet time too.

We are off to Stockport this afternoon. I will hopefully be able to blog more then.

Cheers!
Hi,
Back on line again. It was amazing, a couple of days without internet/email access was really trying!!
We have spent the last couple of days in Holt's End, in a little B&B. I say that it is little because I have to duck or bump my head on the beams in the lounge room!!
After saying that my hayfever was getting (slightly) better, I hasten to say, it's WORSE! After a visit to the doctors, I have been prescribed a couple of drugs, and a Ventolin to assist with my now wheezing!! I have a constantly running nose/eyes, to the point that they are nearly red raw! OUCH!!
But, apart from that, I am still really enjoying it over here.
England lost the soccer (yeah), and it is all that is being talked about really!!
We have had a couple of really (strange for here) hot days! To the point of breaking out in a sweat!
I will be going over to see my auntie Pat tomorrow, but my brother has just given me my other auntie (Ann's) address, but I am unsure if I will be able to get over to where she is given such short notice. I will be at Pat's from Thursday night, and Friday, then getting the train back to where both L&R are, so as L and I can hope over to Nth Wales and have a look through on the Sat. On Sat night, we are going to be having dinner with R relatives, then Sunday morning, heading back to London, find a hotel for the night, before both L&R fly out early Mon morning. I have a late flight out for Japan Mon night, arriving back in Sydney around 7.30 Wednesday morning.
Well, I had better pack up my things, and look around town for some things/shops for the girls to see.
Cheers for now.
B

14 June, 2004

UPDATE, UPDATE, UPDATE ! ! !

You can now comment, and we will receive an email to read!!
At the bottom of the post we make, you will see a link from the post. Click on it and leave a comment and we will get an email!!
Cheers
B
Hello there!!
Well, we are now in Coventry, and at the moment, both L & R are in a meeting with the local council.
We had a little bit of bother finding the little B&B we are staying in, but we did eventually get there. It is a quaint little place, everything looks sort of authentic, until you either knock it or look closer at it to see that it really is a bit of a replica!!
We all boarded the same flight (a first for the whole trip) out of Aalborg, for the 35 min trip to Copenhagen. L made the comment after we landed, that there must have been a trainee pilot as there were three people in the cockpit, and it was an extremely rough landing!
I had (what was supposed to be a quick 20 min connection) but was eventually nearly 1hr 30 min delay due to technical difficulty on the plane. We eventually took off, and the seat belt light was not removed AT ALL for the entire flight. The only people that were allowed to walk the aisles were the cabin crew!! It was and very bumpy ride, and when we did land, either the brakes were squealing or the wheels had locked. You know the noise of car tyres locking up......
The weather here is much better than in Denmark, and it is absolutely football (Soccer) mad with Euro 2004 starting on the weekend. Unfortunately, it appears as though Britain lost to France, YEAH!!!
I am doing this entry from the Library. As I am a visitor, I get a 1hr FREE access, where as if you’re a resident, you have to pay for it!!!
Well, I had better go now.
Cheers
B

13 June, 2004

It has been a busy couple of days, yesterday was the last day of the presentations for the conference and finished with technical visits. R and I did a bit of a swap which meant that I went on a sailing boat on the fjord, viewing some of the Aalborg urban renewal projects. It was very pleasant and I was able to catch up with Michael from Moreland City Council in Victoria and Belinda from Aberdeen, who are new contacts we have made. I also met a women from a South African university who was quite interesting.

We only got half of the boat trip as the police would not approve the bridge being raised to allow the boat through. This meant about half of the tour was them done on foot.

We had dinner back at the Kunst and Spaghetti, and met up with Michael, and his wife and daughter just as we were finishing, so walked into town for a drink at the pub. It actually got quite chilly (and rained on and off)so we didn't stay for long. We could have gone inside but it was very smokey. We also had an early start with the nature tours today.

I think we could have all done with a day off today. However, the nature visit was really worthwhile. It meant we got to go out and drive through the countryside and villages. We did a bit of 'bushwalking' through the Rold Forest, and were given a guided tour by the Forest Ranger. Part of the tour included the troll forest, unfortunately no trolls were found, I guess we were too noisy. My favourite part of the day though, was the Blue Spring. It was a very gentle walk to get to it, mainly because most of the path was over peat, which made it kind of springy. The Spring itself was crystal clear and didn't look as deep as it's 4m. The Blue luminesence was created by the chalk base of the spring. B will probably provide a few photos.

Well it is time for a bit of a rest before we walk down the road to meet up with Belinda (from Aberdeen) to have dinner together.

Tomorrow we are travelling again. So next entry will be from Northern England.

11 June, 2004

Good morning (or evening back home)!
Well, my hayfever is (slightly) better this morning!
Yesterday, I spent some of the morning, trying to find a company that will rent out a motor bike so as I could ride around town a see some of the country side. But, after going to the local Polite (Police) Station, he looked in the phone book and found a company in Lindholm, which was a short train trip North. When I got there, all it was, was a service station which rented out "Motorcycle Trailers"!!!!
So, I walked back to the station, and jumped on a bus to get back to Aalborg. On this bus, after talking with the driver and asking him about renting a bike, he let me stay on the bus all the way up to Gitstrup, which was about 45-60 mins out of Aalborg. We went through the University, and gave me a "Private Guided Tour" all for 15DKK!!! This was supposed to have been a zone 3 ticket, but, he let me do it on my zone 1 at no extra cost, and we spoke about me being a greenkeeper, and his love for golf!
He also told me about the abundance of windfarms around town. They produce around 40% of energy for the City (and surrounds), which is a pretty good result!! And, when talking about land prices, he mentioned that for 1000m2 block in the 'Rich' area, (after converting to AUD) would cost around $60k! WOW!! He nearly had heart failure when I told him that a 450m2 block in Sydney could cost around the $300k mark!!
After I got back, I came back to the "Hotel Hvide Hus" (The White House Hotel) and had a sleep, whilst L & R were at the dinner as part of the conference.
Well, I had better go, as I am hoping to find where the harbor cruise goes from, for a trip around the harbor!!
Cheers
B
It is 11.42pm, Denmark time. R and I have not long returned to the hotel from the conference dinner. We had a great time, we met up with the Leicester people, and a gentleman from Germany, with whom we shared a table.

Towards the end of the evening we also met up with Moreland City Council, from Victoria, Australia. We have agreed to find Yarra Ranges (also Victoria, Australia)tomorrow and get together for lunch.

The dinner was a lot of fun, amazing amounts of food, I think about 4/5 types of wine to accompany the various stages of the dinner, lots of speeches, some of which I am sure were impromptu, it would seem that people were having so much fun they felt the need to go onto the stage and up to the microphone to say a few words, sing a song, say a poem.... and propose a toast. A band came on before it was our turn ("Australia's") to sing Waltzing Matilda or something similar. The band was excellent and did a fantastic rendition of Crowded House's, Weather With You, which made me feel right at home.

The conference itself continues to be very worthwhile, and we are learning heaps and making lots of contacts.

They have used some interesting concepts to get everyone thinking. I particularly liked this mornings gentle start to the day which consisted of a meeting in the Aalborghallen to share in locally grown strawberries whilst images relating to food and sustainability were shown on large screens, and a gentleman played the piano beautifully. It was such a gentle and peaceful start to the day, and very evocative. This session I believe was sponsored by the World Health Organisation.

Well time to go, it is late and I have still got a stiff neck, which has resulted in me affectionately being referred to by B as "the pain in the neck", B's payback for such rudeness is that he is suffering with hayfever. What a pair.