Diana+

Strange reflection from the TV in the view finder!

Got a fab little camera over Christmas called the Diana+. This is a camera that was made a number of years ago and was sold in China for around $1. The camera is very cheap and basic, although sells for closer to £50 these days as it has now grown into bit of a cult item.

The camera is now made by the Lomography Society in Austria

This is a film camera that uses the 120 medium format and I’ve just loaded my first roll today.

No idea how the shots will turn out but that’s the whole fun of it.

More miles does not equal less weight

Too Many Carbs

Despite the fact that I am now running further and longer than I have done for many years, I do not seem to be losing any weight, in fact I have added a few pounds.  As you can imagine, this was not the plan.

I think the problem might be that I am now eating too many carbs.  For me this will take a little imagination to get around, as my diet is very much focused onsome sort of carbs; rice, pasta, bread, potato and the like.  My plan is to try and avoid these foods when I know I’m not going to the gym or for a run that evening, which pretty much just leaves me with salad and some protein for lunch and dinner.

If anyone has some interesting low carb recipes I would love to hear them!

Photo Credit -PetitPlat by sk on Flickr

5k – 35 mins

Well I might not have been updating this blog very frequently over the past months, but that doesn’t mean the quest for shedding some weight and improving my fitness has stopped. I’ve slowly been putting in the miles and have had some success at consistently bringing my personal best time down for 2k (10m 45s)and 3k (18m 48s). However I’ve always appreciated the fact that in running terms, these are quite short distances and I decided to have a go at 5k last night, and much to my pleasure I covered the distance in 35m flat. I was also pleased I didn’t have to drop the pace to a walk at any point. I’ll continue at this distance and see if I can shed some time off, 30 mins being the target, and hopefully at some point I’ll be able to push the distance further out to 10k.

Photo by theowl84 on Flickr

I’ve started yet another blog – Sports Monthly

I seem to be getting in the habit of producing more and more online content as time passes by. Just recently I thought I’d start a blog that looks at upcoming sports events per month, and also sports news and sports articles. I’ve also persuaded a couple of friends to be interviewed, and in the case of James, I’ve also recruited him to write the odd article too.

As we’ve got a section for sports events in each month, I decided to call it Sports Monthly, although someone has since pointed out this sounds like it could be related to girls in swimwear, which it isn’t.

Back In Blighty

Well I did manage to get back home OK. The trip on the Eurostar was pretty uneventful and very smooth. This was my first time on the train and I admit it was very good and I would consider using it again to get from London to Paris, Lille, or Brussels. However, as I don’t live in London, it would be bit of a faff to tack the train down to London, get over to St Pancreas and then onto the Eurostar. Maybe not want the environmentalists want to hear, but living outside of London, there just isn’t really a viable alternative to flying.

I have submitted some accommodation expenses to the airline, but the only thing I have got back is an acknowledgement of my claim. I guess with hundreds of people submitting claims, and the fact the airlines will want to hold on to their cash for as long as possible, I will probably have to wait some time to get a cheque.

Whilst the whole ash cloud thing was inconvenient both for me personally and my employer, it was quite nice to travel by train. It has certainly made me think about taking a holiday travelling around to a few places by train. I believe the backpackers call this InterRailing.

Break in Brussels

Well I’m pretty much half way home. I’m now in Brussels catching up with some work whilst I wait for my Eurostar later today.

Breakfast in Brussels

The train trip went quite well yesterday and there were lots of people to talk to and share stories. It is apparent that there is always someone travelling further than you are and perhaps with a more complicated scenario. Met a Scottish chap who seemed close to tears when he was telling us he would miss his wife’s 50th birthday. They had planned to spend it in Amsterdam, where he had decided still to go to make use of the hotel booking and then get the ferry back to the UK. It looked impossible for his wife to join him.

Had a minor setback at Cologne when they announced that the train was fully booked and those without seat reservations were not permitted to board. I didn’t have a seat booked, so was shunted onto a coach service instead, that pretty much doubled the journey time. However there was again opportunity to meet fellow travellers each with their own story. The most amusing of which was an American girl who was heading back from Prague to Cork. She was asking people on their advice on how best to get there. When people mentioned options such as ferries from Swansea, ferries from Calais and Eurostar she had no idea where these places were and didn’t really know that Wales existed. I hope she makes it.

Pleased that I will be back home today, and am going off to the station soon to see if I can get an earlier train back to London.

All gone quiet at Hotel 71 Nyhavn

I’ve just come back from breakfast in the hotel this morning, and I think I saw two other guests. At the end of last week and over the weekend this place has been packed. It’s located in a popular are of Copenhagen so I’d think it would always be pretty busy if not with tourists then business travellers.

However this morning, it’s like a ghost town. I suspect that most of the previously stranded passengers have now embarked on their alternative travel plans, and that a number of people that were planning to visit Copenhagen have postponed their trips.

The staff are just hanging about this morning, so at least I will get prompt and attentive service when I check out in a few minutes.

My Train Route Back

I have plotted my train route back from Copenhagen on Google maps.  The route is by car, and not train, but gives a good indication of the route.

Total kilometres: 1,533

My train route back

Extraction Plan Out of Denmark

Well I’m still in Copenhagen, but now have a finalised route out.  After my flight for tomorrow was cancelled earlier today, I decided to definitely take the train to get back home.  Trying to find a seat on the Eurostar was time consuming but once I looked as far out as Wednesday, then I found a seat.  So with a ticket for Brussels to London, I sorted out a long train ride out of Copenhagen.  This was fairly easy, and not too expensive, but it will be a long trip.

From Copenhagen, I will go down to Hamburg in Germany, here I have to change trains to get to Cologne. From Cologne I can get into to Brussels, and then catch the Eurostar back to London St Pancreas.  Once in London I will take the train back to Solihull.

All in all, this is going to take one and a half days.  Due to the timings of when I get into, and then back out of Brussels I have booked a hotel, opposed to sleeping in the station.

I am now hearing some news reports that after some flight tests by KLM, Lufthansa and British Airways, it seems that at the moment the conditions appear safe to fly in, and there seems to be some promise that a number of planes will get into the sky.  That does seem encouraging but to be honest I am still not convinced that my flight on Wednesday will go ahead, so I’m sticking with my train plan.

I left Birmingham Airport Wednesday afternoon, and will not get back until late Wednesday night, so what was meant to be a two night business trip, will have turned into a full weeks expedition.

Stuck in Copenhagen

Due to the volcanic ash issues, I am currently stuck in the Danish capital, Copenhagen.  I flew over here from Birmingham Airport on Wednesday in time for a business meeting on Thursday.  However the exploding volcano in Iceland has grounded the vast majority of airports in northern Europe.

As it stands I am currently booked onto two flights, one for Monday, and the other Wednesday.  I am becoming increasingly doubtful of the Monday flight taking off.  The latest information from my airline advises that all flights for Saturday and Sunday have been cancelled.

As the volcano continues to pump more ash into the sky, I cannot see the situation changing before the middle of next week.  I am now closely looking at train options, which does seem possible even if it is going to be a 20 hour train ride, in not so comfortable conditions.

On the upside, Copenhagen is a nice city and I have had the opportunity to look around a bit, could just do with the sun coming out.

Fingers crossed for an improvement for myself, and all other stranded travellers.