Crocs

I really hate them. Like, properly hate them. Of all the fine footwear in the world Crocs are surely the most heinous. The reason are nearly as many and varied as the variety of Crocs themselves. I'll give you just three examples.

1. They are made of plastic. Jelly shoes were made of plastic, need I say more?

2. They come in ridiculous colours. Just to highlight the fact you're wearing them.

3. Most of them make your feet look like actual boats.

Recently though I've noticed an advertising campaign online for them. It's nearly everywhere I turn online.

Really? 'As good as you look'. And that's supposed to be a positive thing?

There is of course one demographic that can pull them off.

Bless.

Mind you, the boy could probably wear blue swimming pool bags and I'd think they were cute.

Public service announcement

GCSE papers are not easier to mark than A Level papers. GCSE papers are not quicker to mark than A Level papers. GCSE papers are not funnier than A Level papers.

Just in case anyone thought that, I can set them straight. Now.

Yes, it's marking season again. I know, I know, I promised myself I wouldn't do it, but for all the reasons above (well maybe not the funny one) I thought I'd change it up and drop to GCSE. As Julia Roberts would say, big mistake. Huge.

Excuse me, I need to go cry into my box of marking.

Strasbourg, the heart of Europe. When you get there.

Here are the photos from the rest of my trip. I know, you've been very patient with me, but I hope my joke from yesterday went some way to make it up to you.

This is rainy Paris on my way to change stations. I had thoughts about walking from Gare du Nord to Gare de l'Est, but the rain meant I had to take the scary Metro and work out tickets and everything. But I did it. All thanks to the self service machine being able to switch language. Phew.

This is Bischwiller station, just north of Strasbourg. When I was on TOM I was on a team that worked on a Methodist Church here. I so wanted to get off and have a look, but sadly there was no time. Plus I doubted my ability to take me back to the church.

This is the terrace at the hotel we were staying at. You can't quite see the pool in this picture, but it's there. Now, now, don't get excited. It was possibly the world's tiniest pool. Like one of those treadmill pools that keep the current going on cruise ships. Except there was no current. I didn't have my swimsuit with me anyway. Gutted.

I know, I'm really not making you believe this trip was anything more than a jolly with photos of terraces and banqueting tables. It's just it reminded me of the one we had in Lyon. (I was going to look for a photo to link it to, but it turns out I never put it on here. Oopsy.) Anyway, what was I saying? Oh yes, rough work these conferences...

We went into Strasbourg one day to visit the Council of Europe. We got three lectures by different legal experts. See that banqueting table is looking less impressive suddenly.

 This is the parliamentary assembly. Oooh.

The Council, or certainly the part we were in, has a nice 70s feel to it.

During our lectures, it was hard not to wonder what the designers of this room were thinking. Stripy blue and purple walls (textile, I imagine for sound proofing), red chairs, and brown carpet. Stylin'.

In one of the breaks, a trip to the bathroom revealed some green grouting. I know, I really do give you the inside information on here, don't I?

After visiting the Council, we went into to Strasbourg and visited the cathedral.

It's quite tall. 142 metres, I think. the highest point in Singapore is 162 metres. Fact.

We then had evening prayers in another old church. I say evening prayers, but really it was a forty minute tour of all the old features and a run through of all the priests since the year dot. I was enthralled.

Sadly in amongst the detail they did not tell us when the tables and chairs were added to the building. I'm not an expert on ecclesiastical design, but I'm fairly certain they are not original, and possibly of Swedish design.

I got flashbacks to Lyon with this carousel. Once again, I'd link it to a photo of Lyon, but that also appears to never have made it to the blog. You can just take my word for it.

I visited la Petite France in Strasbourg before I left the next day. I think they meant to say pretty, for I saw nothing small about it. 

  

Here's another one for fact fans. The building on the left with the French flag is where the French national anthem was written. La Marseillaise, my foot.

All too soon the trip was over and I was back to Paris again. This time the weather was much nicer, and I enjoyed my stroll through the streets of Paris to Gare du Nord. 

All in, I think I preferred Lyon as a city. But you can't be fussy on these conferences. Goodness know where I might be off to next. But don't worry, swimsuit is the first thing going in the case.

A made up joke

Two KitKats were sitting out on in the sun. One said to the other 'pass me my sunglasses, would you?' The second KitKat said 'I can't, my fingers are stuck together!'.

I'd be embarrassed to tell you how much we laughed at that when we made it up earlier.

Mind you, my joke making has come on a long way since I was five when the best I could do was 'why did the orange put his fingers in his ears?' 'Because he didn't like the smell of his own juice.'

See, the KitKat one is pretty funny now, isn't it?!

Nearly project 365

Rather than giving you a blow by blow account of each day since I last did a project 365, I thought I'd combine them into one picture. Let's just say they're all there. Ahem.


Since March activities have included:

library time, essay writing, bed, teeth brushing, reading, entertaining John, watching television, voting, Starbucks, computing, London, France, and various sports and recreation. (You might need to click on it to see them better.)


I hope to get back on course now.

Strasbourg, the heart of Europe. Until you try to get there.

June 8th already? Well at least I know MasterCard will be happy that I didn't realise it was June 8th, as no doubt they will slap a nice £12.00 late fee on to my credit card bill that's due tomorrow. I hate paying that simply because I didn't realise time was ticking away and they can't process payments any faster. Funnily enough the last time I was late with a payment was when I was away on a trip. Next time I will pay it before I go. Although I don't like my chances of getting packed up any earlier in that case.

So France. Again. Like I said before, it was a scarier trip than last time. Smaller, with more work to do. And wanting to hold on to the report that I will to the boss (who leaks their own reports?) I shall show you some photos instead.

The first thing to say about Strasbourg is that it's not an easy place to get to. There is no simple route there. Every which way would have involved various combinations of planes, trains and indeed automobiles. Added to the problem was the need to go the cheapest way possible, which worked out flying to London to get the Eurostar to Paris and then the TGV to Strasbourg. Which all meant that I could have flown to Australia in the time it took to get to Strasbourg. But I did get fun travelling adventures so I shan't complain.

On my way through London, I stopped off for a Strawberries and Cream Frappuccino near to Trafalgar Square.

Ah London in May. Reminds me of...November.

There's a statue of George Washington outside the National Gallery. It turns out he too was a little man, like Fred Perry and King Billy. I had to include this kind member of the general public for perspective purposes. I don't think he knew he was in the photo.

I walked to Covent Garden and even at 11.00am  there were street entertainers. The man on the unicycle proceeded to juggle, which makes my multi-tasking of walking and chewing gum look amateur.

With wheeling my suitcase around to Covent Garden I suddenly became very aware of it. Not incase someone tried to rob me. No, no, incase throngs of people gathered round me, expecting me to take out my ventriloquist's dummy or magician's sawing table. I made a speedy getaway, lest they be disappointed and throw things at me. Well, we've all seen a crowd turn ugly.


Tomorrow (or some other time in the future) I'll continue the photo round up of the trip. I thought if I put too many photos you wouldn't know what had hit you. Feast from famine can be dangerous for one's health.