Austria approaches

I'm currently putting the finishing touches to updates I've made to the Austria travel page, which will also see the introduction of photos to the page, plus links to many of the sights and places mentioned. It's essentially a big update on the page that was created following my trip to Austria on 2000. Out with the Schilling and in with the Euro. Although the information about Innsbruck will remain untouched, as I didn't get there on this trip, there's a mass of new information going into sections about Vienna and Salzburg. More info once it goes live.

Cut off, cut free

Following a busy first half to the week where I was getting back late and effective going straight to my slumber each evening, I've found that I've continued the rest of the week without any desire to the watch the TV. I haven't seen a single programme since I was at my parents' last week. Not for thirty minutes have a sat before the box and passively and accepted its audio-visual offerings to me. There's something rather satisfying about the whole process too, as although it's unintended it feels as if it's become something active, this withdrawing from being subservient to the cathode ray tube master.

This all said, I'm no telly addict. Yet as TV seems to feature so formidably in popular daily life, in office conversation and within the pages of newspapers, it nevertheless feels as something of an achievement. This bodes well for me in the months ahead, as I shall be long in foreign lands and perhaps only occasionally coming into contact with some comprehensible media, likely even then to be limited to the authoritive tones of the BBC World Service or some exported British broadsheet. Casting aside the media hubbub for a week makes me confident that doing the same for some months won't prove to be much of challenge.

Let us not forget also that the television is there as a entirely non-demanding medium, ideal at the end of a long tiring day in the office when the brain is ground down by 8 hours of bombardment and is not capable of much. Wandering foreign lands I suspect while tiring in itself will leave a quite different legacy on the mind. Far from shut down, the brain will be reeling from the sights, sounds and experiences of the day.

Short term

I really have to take some steps to remember the multitude of minor tasks that I really need to do at regular intervals but somehow manage to easily overlook for weeks upon end. Updating this blog would be a good start. This evening has been something of an exception, in that I've so far successfully remembered to do such menial but necessary duties of doing the washing up, emptying the kitchen bin, putting the laundry into the washing machine. The real challenge will be to see if finish the job and actually remember to take the laundry out once the cycle is done. Aaah, the lack of a working short-term memory is a glorious thing.

Despite the occasional effort into remedial solutions, such as carrying a little book around which inevitably was quickly misplaced and forgotten, I feel that I'm going to have to look into getting myself a PDA. This is not a bad thing as, aside from the obligatory forking out of money for such a device, it could actually prove a useful companion. From the point of view of my memory, the functionality of PDAs today means that it's worth carrying along for all manner of purposes, meaning I'll not forget to bring it along for all of those less important notes and reminders. No longer are these handheld objects merely the preserve of businessmen with a requirement to keep on top of their busy daily appointments diary, they have evolved into what are nothing less than mini-PCs.

Better still, the modern prevalence of wi-fi, not least free wireless hotspots means that this handheld PC is likely to be near an internet hookup too. Just imagine having the internet almost anywhere. That's bordering on the scarey, given that I already spend many of my waking hours on-line either at work or home. Fortunately the battery life of PDAs should prevent too many hours spent blinking at a relatively tiny screen. The internet in this mobile form however offers much more than its typical home-based application. Any thoughts that cross my mind are now less likely to be forgotten, can be quickly recorded and using minimal effort put those same thoughts online, should they be so worthy. Even writing for offline should be improved. The greatest thoughts don't always occur at the most convenient of times. Having a PDA should limit this creative loss, and with the added investment in a portable bluetooth keyboard could even support more sustaining writing.

It's the first week of January....

...which means that Easter is *just* around the corner. Or so the supermarkets would have us believe with their displays of Cadbury's Cream Eggs and Mini eggs. Can we really not exist without having some impending festival dominating the shops? I'm not sure exactly when Easter is this year, but I suspect that I'd have a good 2 - 3 months of Cream Egg eating practice if I started now. Crazy. Sooner or later it'll go the same way as fruit. Whereas we can get Strawberries pretty much year round, how long will it be before there are perpetual mince pies and easter eggs in the shops. Not good.

Oh Vienna!

Back from Christmas and New Year and slowly getting settled back into the routine for a while. Now this year was a bit of a turn up for the books for New Year, as instead of the usual non-event, I saw in 2006 with friends in Vienna. I'm making my way through the photos, but for now the shots I took on my mobile have been added to the fotopic gallery. Photos from the SLR to come!

Another Christmas unwrapped

As Boxing Day draws to an end, in some ways it's the end of another Christmas. That is, the official portion of the holiday containing the word 'Christmas' is over, yet part involving 'New Year' is still to come. Not being interested in the Christian significance of the holiday, it's a bit of a funny one, as I'm unsure whether the importance of each day over the holiday should be dictated to me by the number and quality of films being aired on the terrestrial TV channels, or whether I should determine this myself.

This year for once I'm going to pack myself off for a few days abroad, so even the TV rules won't apply on this occasion, and it'll be entirely ad lib on my part. Normally New Year is an event resulting in almost universal anti-climax, but this year I'll actually be doing something, yet the exact nature of that something is still to be decided upon. I'll be enjoying the best of a foreign capital, and quite what that will involve on New Year is impossible to foresee prior to arriving there in person. I suspect it could be a memorable one, not least as this year the traditional Christmas Eve at the local pubs was foregone. The stakes are high. Whether we end up partying hard or freezing to death, I suspect there will be a many a story to tell afterwards.

Call of the blogs

It's been another quiet spell for me on the blogosphere. To be honest as Christmas approaches work steps up in pace and I normally return home feeling drained of any creative energy that may once have existed in my poor worn out grey matter. However my thoughts and time have also been distributed over these past few months across other forums. (I suspect fora is grammatically correct, however I stick by my belief that it looks odd.) There are a huge number of online discussion groups, yet finding one that hits the spot or that covers an area that's of particular relevance isn't always a simple task. Fortunately I've found such corners of the internet during the course of the year, and much of my time has been spent their, learning, reading, shareing experiences and information. It really has been an enlightening and highly constructive process.

I suspect my blogging will however see a dramatic resurgence in 2006. There's much travelling on the cards, and being far from home I suspect a blog may be the new preferred means of keeping in contact with the many folks at home, and friends in many countries following my progress. It'll making something of a change, as previously I've stuck to lots of e-mails, but I fancy with a bit of practice I'll be able to match off the need for personalised entries with trying to be as all encompassing as possible. I don't really have the foggiest how much internet connectivity I'm likely to come across. Some areas will be technologically developed, but many will not. It's funny, I've not really got a great idea of just how widespread the internet has becoming. My travels might providing something of an eye-opener on this, as much as on the other aspects of the lands around me.

Targetted advertising

A Toys R Us ad during a programme about the Somme on Channel 4 at 10:30pm. Interesting placement that one.

Random morning

It's been a fairly normal sort of a day but with scattered with slightly odd random events.

I was walking home at lunchtime and going through the FM band on my Roberts Radio which I don't normally use, but did today because my mobile was hidden under a pile of junk somewhere, when I stopped at a station playing No Doubt - It's My Life. The signal was a bit weak but listenable enough, and the DJ came on and identified it as Invicta FM from Kent! That's miles away, I didn't know it got anywhere near this far West. I suppose the hill helps.

Arriving home there was some post; in particular a Water bill wrapped in a GNER flyer. Very odd!

Heimat

For the past few weeks I've been enjoying Heimat, an epic of German television portraying the changing times of German throughout the 20th Century. However I only caught all of Heimat 3; the most recent series, which fortunately was well publicised. Heimats 1 and 2 I almost entirely missed, and according to the BBC Four website they have no plans to repeat them due to cost grounds! I am quite disappointed by this, but at the same time I'm not sure if I want to fork out £50 for each series on DVD.

Come on BBC! Let's have another chance to see this marvel of television.