Untitled

via rainymood.com

It is raining in Dublin as I type but if you like the sound of rain, and win, give this site a shot.
It can be off-putting if the weather is stormy where you are.

 

R.E.M. Call It Quits – Stereogum

via stereogum.com

Sigh!

 

What does it feel like to fly over planet Earth?

via youtube.com

time-lapse taken from the front of the International Space Station as it orbits our planet at night. This movie begins over the Pacific Ocean and continues over North and South America before entering daylight near Antarctica. Visible cities, countries and landmarks include (in order) Vancouver Island, Victoria, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles. Phoenix. Multiple cities in Texas, New Mexico and Mexico. Mexico City, the Gulf of Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula, El Salvador, Lightning in the Pacific Ocean, Guatemala, Panama, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Lake Titicaca, and the Amazon. Also visible is the earths ionosphere (thin yellow line), a satellite (55sec) and the stars of our galaxy.

 

Draw a Stickman

Check out this website I found at drawastickman.com

Brilliant! Great fun altogether!

 

Beirut – Santa Fe

I have recently bought the latest Beirut album called The Rip Tide. Mainly because I heard a track called Santa Fe on the airwaves. I was immediately hooked. So I wanted to hear more. I haven’t heard of this guys work before this so I will go discovering. 

Have a listen:

 

 

Posterous is a-changing..

I’ve just seen the new posterous set up and like it. I have downloaded the iPhone app also and it looks easy to use. I would really like to use this as a kind of photo blog and hopefully in time I will get out and about. Seems fairly easy to upload photos here too. I want to create a new “space” also that is music related. We’ll see how things go!

 

My (Possible) Return to the Camino

As most of you know, I completed over 110km of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela in June. I loved every second of it and walking for charity made it feel that bit better. But ever since I returned home, I've had a nagging urge to go back and walk some more. It took more than a while to settle back to routine when I returned. 

So I have started plans to return back to walk another stage. Initially I wanted to walk 8 days from Ponferrada (http://bit.ly/ndy6WV) to Sarria. It seemed doable and after hurting my leg back in June, I was thinking I wouldn't need to walk more than 20km a day. The plan was to fly into Santiago, get a bus to Ponferrada and walk to Sarria. On return, I bus it from Sarria back to Santiago, maybe stay the night and then return. Handy enough. 

Next step was to get in touch with Garry, the guide from June. He lives in Santiago and has walked the Camino three times. He has written up a plan of action for me and I have to say it's a massive help. In the end, I decided to round the duration to 10 days and start from Leon. 

The biggest problem I have (and any help would be appreciated) is how I get to Leon. I have so many choices for flights; Dublin to Santiago or to Bilbao. Ryanair don't fly to Northern Spain from Ireland so a flight to Santiago from Dublin seems the right option. It costs a small fortune so I may be forced to travel to Stansted and fly out to Santander or Santiago by Ryanair. Phew! 

I have alot of decisions to make. The past few days I have been thinking of holding back for a few months but it's now or never I reckon.

 

August 2011

July 2011

One month on..

It’s over a month since my last post and it’s well and truly time to update this thing, or at least say a few words to console it.  So what have I been doing with myself since…??

Well I am a month back from my Camino trek in June (pictures here and here. It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience and am looking to return to walk some part of the Way in the next year. I met some great people, and we continue to keep in touch. Let’s not forget all monies raised were donated to Aware. It is something I would encourage you all to do, even mark it down on your bucket list when you hit that territory! I had written up a long piece to be published but didn’t get round to finishing it, so I dropped it. I may come back to it soon.

I am back to the office after a two day break (Thursday and Friday) and enjoyed the rest. Didn’t do anything exciting, but it’s always good to wake up and not have something to do for the day. Not many holidays left, so will be conserving them until October or November. Not planning on a return to Spain until March or April. The real difficulty I have at the moment in relation to the Camino is I am finding it hard to find people to come along with me at that time. The folks I went with have expressed no interest to return and I am not too keen to venture off on my own. So maybe you Mr or Ms Reader, could help me somehow?

It was tough to get back to the swing of things after I got back. It took me a week or so to settle down, I just found it hard to focus as my mind was on the previous 10 days. 

I started up this blog to post pictures, either from my iPhone or camera. I haven’t been doing that alot recently, but will do.