Slika z BBC strani, avtorja Scotty

Včeraj sem šel spet malo na ogled do lokacije snemanja novega filma o Robinu Hoodu na obali Freshwater West in zadeve so se precej spremenile od prejšnjega tedna, ko sem bil nazadnje tam. Varnostnikov ni bilo veliko in tokrat so me vsaj spustili na plažo, kljub temu, da je na tam potekalo snemanje. Povsod sami statisti, večinoma v horizontali. Če se nisem spotaknil ob statista, sem se pa skoraj ob kako sulico. Mnogi so bili pokonci že od 4. ure zjutraj, da so jih ustrezno pripravili na snemanje in ko sem bil tam so morali biti pokonci okoli 10 ur, povrh vsega pa je še sonce žgalo. Ti res, spet so se mi zasmilili. Vsi so bili obleženi v obleke iz tistih časov (vsaj upam, da so bili iz tistih časov, kakšnih ustreznih prič nimam na voljo), na severnem delu plaže so bili, tako kot teden prej, statisti na konjih. One glavne zvezde me niso zanimale in opazovanje snemanja od blizu mi je bilo precej bolj cool.

Najprej sem se sprehodil gor in dol po plaži – svetovali so mi, naj hodim bolj vkraj pa se mi zdi da to ni bila najboljša ideja saj so ves čas po tem delu drveli avtomobili in štirikolesniki raznih vrst. Eden se je celo ustavil in mi ponudil prevoz do produkcijskega tabora na južnem delu. One hute, ki sem jih videl prejšnji teden, so že podrli. Od varnostnika sem izvedel, da trenutno poteka druga faza snemanja, in sicer snemanje podrobnosti, kjer glavni zvedniki niso vpleteni. Prav tako je bilo zaključeno snemanje večjih scen, kjer so bili vklopljeni številni statisti in konji.

Danes so se v lokalnem časopisu tudi razpisali o gospodu Crowe-u – kaj sočnih podatkov niso razkrili, so pa potrdili, da je njegov plan, da bi se vsak dan prevažal na snemanje s helikopterjem iz prijateljeve posesti v Buckinghamshire-ju, ni bil izvedljiv, tako da je snemanje preživel v produkcijskem taboru ob snemališču. Verjetno je malo precenil oddaljenost Walesa od Londona. Matr sam smo res daleč od prestolnice, mi noben ne verjame !!!

So pa v zgoraj omenjenem lokalnem časopisu tudi objavili, kako je šel na večerjo s soigralci in čisto lepo se je obnašal in popolnoma nič zvezdniško. Gostilna se imenuje Carew Inn in je v neposredni bližini srednjeveškega gradu Carew. Še celo toliko se je sprostil, da je pobral kitaro in zapel par pesmi – ena od teh naj bi bila “Leaving on a jet plane” Johna Denverja. Za hvaležnost je uslužbencev dal 350 britanskih funtov vredno napitnino. Imam tudi nekaj fotografij s tega gradu, ki jih je posnela moja mama.

Ajd, dost je, sem dal danes ven modrostni zob in se mi ne piše več. Mi je zobozdravnik dal navodila in me ddrugim tudi piše, da se moram izogibat alkoholu. Ja, pa še to!!??

Nekaj super fotk z BBC-jeve strani…

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Lokacija, kjer poteka snemanje, se imenuje Freshwater West in gre za eno lepših plaž v Pembrokeshire-ju in Wales-u nasploh. Tu so pejšnji mesec celo snemali naslednji film o Harryu Potterju. Produkcija za Robina Hooda pa je precej večja in vključuje veliko več ljudi in opreme. Pred tedni so imeli v bližnji dvorani avdicijo za statiste in prijaviti se jih je hotelo veliko več, kolikor je bilo mest na voljo.

Ogled galerije.

Ker je produkcija tega filma tako velika, so uspeli pri občini (izraz občina upoorabljam kot nadomestilo za county council, v tem konkretnem primeru Pembrokeshire County Council) dobiti dovoljenje za dvotedensko zaprtje lokalne ceste, ki poteka mimo plaže, kjer se bo snemalo največ prizorov. Očitno prihaja do manjših zamud, saj so morali zaprositi za podaljšanje tega dovoljenja za nekaj dni.

Sam sem bil priča snemanju prejšnji torek. Čeprav so govorili, da bo plaža odprta za javnost, to skoraj ni bilo mogoče realizirati, saj je med snemanjem tam ogromno opreme in statistov, tako da do plaže sploh nisi mogel, je bila pa odprta pot ob plaži in ima tudi posebno ime – Pembrokeshire coastal path. Na njej je bilo kar nekaj opazovalcev in fotografov, ki so opazovali dogajanje med snemanjem. Očitno so se pripravljali na snemanje spopadom med nekakšno srednjeveško pehoto s sulicami in konjenico. Stal sem ravno nad severnim delom plaže, kjer so ravno takrat počivali konji z jezdeci. Na sliki se prav dobro vidi, da so precej izmučeni in da se jim kaj dosti ne da. Ko jih je šef začel klicati naj grejo na konje, jih je moral včkrat nadreti naj že spravijo riti na sedla in odsmrdijo do snemališča.

Sredi zaliva pred Freshwater West plažo je bilo kar nekaj plovil, nekateri v stilu robinhoodovskih časov (baje) in nekateri malo bolj današnji. No, iz enega iz slednje skupine se je vsake toliko časa izpustil gost oblak dima – verjetno je šlo za posebno meglo, ki jo uporabljajo za snemanje. Ta megla se je najprej razprostrla preko zaliva in potem še naprej na celino in prav čudno je smrdela.

Tik pred snemanjem se je potem pojavil še helikopter za katerega sem najprej sumil, da je pripeljal glavne zvezde – najverjetneje pa je bil uporabljen samo za snemanje – na nosu je imel namreč namontirano ogromno okroglo belo ohišje s kamero v njej. Ko snemanja ni bilo, je šel začasno “parkirat” na bližnji hrib. Takoj, ko se je snemanje nadaljevalo, je zopet zaštartal motorje in nadaljeval delo. Meni je bilo vse skupaj precej zanimivo, ker še nikoli nisem bil na prizorišču snemanja filma, kaj šele za snemanje tako velikega holivudskega filma. Bi bilo kar kul, če bi me spustili na plažo, da bi si zadevo bolje ogledal in kaj poslikal – avtogram Russel-a Crowe-a me namreč niti malo ne interesira.

Na trenutke je bilo dogajanje na plaži kar gledljivo, prav kamlu pa se mi je začelo dolgočasit. Prav hecno pa je bilo gledati eno prvih vaj pri spopadu prej omenjene pehote in konjenice. Ko se je režiser zadrl “Action” in ko so planili eni proti drugim, se je režiser kmalu zadrl “Cut”. Statisti so bili očitno toliko zagreti ali pa so začasno oglušeli, da so nadaljevali z bitko, tako da se je moral režiser še večkrat zadreti Rez …  rez, da so končno prenehali s klofanjem. Fotograf, ki je spremljaj dogajanje mi je povedal, da gre za igralce rugbija, ki so bili precej zagreti za dober “fajt”.

Na koncu sem si še mimogrede ogledal prizorišče snemanja, ki naj bi še prišlo na vrsto – ob plaži, nad plitvimi pečinami, so postavili nekakšne manjše enostavne koče.

Na dan pa že curljajo novice iz samega snemanja. Čisto slučajno se je kolegičina mama uspela slikati z glavnim igralcem Russelom Crowom. Sem pa iz zanesljivih virov izvedel, da je nek statist, ki je bil zaposlen kot veslač v filmu, stopil do Russel-a in ga poprosil za fotografiranje ali avtogram. Russel mu je obljubil, da ni problema in se lahko zmenita, ko pride nazaj. No, nazaj je prišel le nek asistent , ki je tipu (veslaču) zabičal, naj ne nadleguje glavnega igralca in naj se pod nosom obriše za fotografijo in avtogram. Pijar, da mu ni para.

View towards the south. You can see a tractor "combing" the sand next to the wood stacks

Slišal sem tudi za novico, da se je pri snemanju prevrnila barka na kateri so bili konji z jezdeci. Kar nekaj jih je bilo pripeljano v lokalno urgenco. Konjem, po poročilih, ni bilo nič hudega. So pa imeli še eno težavo, ko so spet druge barke pri snemanju, nasedle na mivko. Pri tem je prišlo do hujših težav s posebnimi motorji Mercury Verado saj so se ti, kljub mehki mivki, poškodovali. Poklicati so morali neko lokalno podjetje, ki je zastopnik za te motorje, da so zadevo rešili.

Snemanje bo potekalo še kar nekaj dni in na dan bo, prav gotovo, prišlo še kar nekaj zanimivosti.

Ogled galerije.

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Še nekaj fotografij, zmontiranih v filmček, avtorja wizard327:

Now I was not brilliant in maths but I am still hoping my calculations are at least approximately correct.

Shell is the most simple to calculate so lets start with them. I tried to calculate how many litres of diesel I had to use to get 100 airmiles.

I used the Petrolprices.com website for my postcode: http://www.petrolprices.com/members/?search=SA62+3PW

Shell Driver’s Club

Price here is irrelevant though as they give you 1 airmiles for 20 litres. The website does not specify for which kind of fuels so I presume it is irrelevant. That makes:

2000 litres of diesel for 100 airmiles

Tesco Clubcard

Its more complicated here. A litre of diesel is 1.029 pounds which will give you 1 clubcard point. Usually I will fill up my tank which is 60 litres -> about 62 points.  100 points give you 1 voucher pound so mathematically that would be 0.62 voucher points for 60 litres. That is 0.0103 voucher points per litre of diesel or 96.77 litres of diesel/1 voucher point.

Now, Airmiles give you 60 airmiles for 2.50 voucher points, so that is 4.17 voucher points for 100 airmiles. As 96.77 litres come to 1 voucher point, 4.17 voucher points (for 100 airmiles) come to 403.22 litres of diesel.

So about 400 litres of diesel for 100 airmiles

Conclusion

That makes Tesco’s savings scheme 5 times more economical. I do understand that some numbers are rounded and the calculation is not linear but it does show the huge difference in the schemes for airmiles. Also you get more airmiles with diesel and/or higher prices with Tesco than you do with Shell. If the prices would go down you would relatively do better with a scheme per litre of fuel than per pence spent, but the absolute difference is still very much in favour of Tesco Clubcard. Not to mention that you get more points with Tesco as you get them by buying anything at the shop, not just the fuel.

And y the way, I am not affiliated with any company mentioned here but I have used all. If my calculations are incorrect please inform me through my contact form.

Here are some photos taken from the beach. They were filming some sort of fight scenes on the beach itself. The whole beach was off limits and only the coastal path was open to the public.

If you are tempted to have a look at the filmset you can approach it on the Angle road – there is a temporary public carpark on a field on the left just after the turning for B4319.

See the full photo gallery here

Auris Medical made a sound that tries to reproduce what tinnitus sounds like on top of music: tinnitus

After the last attack I had in April 2008 I was left with persistent undulating tinnitus. It wasn’t as severe as during the Ménière’s attack but it was very unsettling. After a few weeks it was still there and it slowly got me worrying. Whent to see my GP who referred me to a ENT (Ear nose and throat) specialist in Carmarthen. Since then I have been there for a few visits and also had a CT scan a couple MRI scans and various tests performed on me, much to my frustration at times.

I was told that the tinnitus is not going to be permanent and that it is due, in my case, to fluid build-up in the inner ear, however this was more of a presumption than a definitive diagnosis.The best thing I was advised to do was to get used to the sound (while I have it) and to not get frustrated or depressed by it.

The times, when you usually hear it the mos,t is in the evening and morning. This also includes during the night if you happen to wake up. At the beginning the tinnitus was so bad that I was waking up just from it. Going back to sleep after that was quite a job. The resulting insomnia can cause much more severe problems and I hope they weren’t that bad with me.

I was told to visit the RNID website to get more information on how to help myself. The best way is to listen to sounds that are similar to the tinnitus sound in frequency with the aim to “drown out” the tinnitus sound. It is also important not to put the therapeutic music on to loud so it is distracting in itself and also not to quiet as to not have any affect at all. There are various “pillow” speakers available to buy but I wanted something a bit more practical. I already had all my CD collection in digital form and loaded up on my 160 GB iPod Classic. So I found it impractical to start buying special players with special speakers for this purpose. I wanted to buy something I could use for other purposes, for example to wake me up in the morning. I also wanted something that would turn itself off after x number of minutes so the sound playing won’t be going on all through the night.

Chronos iDock by Pure

I found a very good solution in the form of a product called Chronos iDock from a company called Pure. Pure is a British company that makes cutting edge audio equipment. The Chronos iDock is a FM and DAB radio with an iPod docking ability on the top of the box. It also has a sleep button that shuts down the device after 15, 30, 45,  60 or 90 minutes. The DAB system proved to be a special blessing as there was a radio station that was test transmitting some great Birdsong natural sounds. Unfortunately this test transmission stopped on June 1st 2009. The service bacame so popular it has sprung-up this website with the ability to purchase the song online. However the version of the song on the website is not the same as the one that was transmitted on that DAB channel.

This brings me to the songs themselves. I would advise to stay away from iTunes’s DRM afflicted music downloads and go for Amazon’s MP3 website mp3.amazon.co.uk. Unfortunately this is not available to other countries – the last time I heard it was only available in the UK

In any case I would suggest sounds that are purely natural and are not “contaminated” with human music and/or talking. Beware and try-before-you-buy as you might find yourself buying something you don’t like. Amazon’s MP3 store has an excellent preview (or should I say pre-listen) feature. The RNID website suggested a few stress relieving CDs like Pure Calm, but I found them unsuitable for my problem.

There is an alternative to the above suggestion if you don’t want to buy this equipment and you do have an analogue radio at home. Turn the volume down to a low level and tune the radio FM receiver to a frequency with no detectable radio stations. you should hear just the familiar buzzing sound. That’s it! I, however, have not tried this myself as I don’t have an old radio like that at home anymore. Worth a try though.

Software

There a bit of useful software available to help you combat tinnitus called Tinnitus Masker Pro. This app by Vectormedia software will allow you to mix and match different pre-installed sound like the sound of rain, white noise, fire and so on, to create your own. You can also modify the volume,  frequency and left/right balance. There is also a feature to record your own sounds. There is a Standard and and a Deluxe version available.

Hyperacusis

Don’t forget there are many reasons why tinnitus occurs. In my case it is constant but gets worse in certain circumstances. As  side effect of it I will also experience hyperacusis – where I will find certain sounds extremely irritating – and I mean irritating enough that I have to leave the area straight away. I remmeber once going to a busy restaurant not long after having a Ménière attack and I found the surround noice from people talking so irritating I had to leave the place immediately.

If you are in that sort of situation the best thing is to just remove yourself and go somewhere quiet. Sometimes ear plugs with help but it won’t make the tinnitus quiter – remember, it is originating from within you and is not from an external source.

Treatment

There is currently no effective treatment for it. There is some pretty invasive surgery that as far as I know in certain cases can result in permanent deafness. There is some research ongoing but with no imminent drugs on the market. Read the related articles at the end of the post from BBC News. I have done some research and there was some talk about the benefits of herb Gingko Biloba. Also some discussion over caffeine was made but I read that in some cases caffeine made the tinnitus worse and in other cases, better. Just try it out for yourself. In my situation stress, flu and viral diseases (decreased immunity) made the tinnitus worse so keeping in general good health is a great idea. However twice before I had the Ménière attack I actually did some exercise but that could just as well be due to the exercise triggering a flu-like disease concentrating on my inner ear. I have since done lots of exercise in form of hill climbing, trekking and skydiving with absolutely no problems in the aftermath.

My GP gave me some buccal tablets containing prochlorperazine – to be more precise these were not specifically for the tinnitus but to prevent a possible Ménière attack. Not sure if they are of any use. They are supposed to prevent and eliviate nausea and vertigo.

I would also suggest joining the British Tinnitus Association. The annual membership is currently £15 for the UK and £20 for other countries. You get lots of useful information and some insight on research into tinnitus.

Living with tinnitus

As described earlier you should avoid areas where you expect to feel uncomfortable. If you experience hyperacusis in crowded areas then best to avoid them or use ear plugs you can get from your local pharmacy. Listening to music in general should be OK, avoid loud sounds and loud music, especially if listening on headphones as this, in itself, can cause hearing loss and tinnitus. I play the acoustic guitar myself and have no problems with the vibartions or the frequency. It was also fine once I switched to an electric guitar.

That is all. Keep well.

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The dispute I had with Ryanair about a problem with purchasing tickets from their website.Their website crashed and I was left unsure whether I actually purchased the ticket as I could not confirm the reservation through the Ryanair website using my payment details.

After trying contacting Ryanair through various e-mails that apparently don’t work I tried writing to Ryanair’s corporate head office in Dublin, Ireland. No luck.

I then also tried cancelling my payment trough my credit card company. In the end Ryanair seemed to have corrected the problem as they produced the credit company proof of my purchase and voilà – I could confirm the ticket on the website. However this was all to late as time was running out and I was forced to make alternative arrangements. My holiday was in August and I was in danger of not being able to travel at all!

Recently they seem to have updated the information on their website on how to file complaints. I wrote to the address stating the problem. Not expecting anything to happen and was preparing to accept that I just lost about £90 I was very surprised to receive an email from Ryanair:

Dear Mr McDowell,

Following your recent refund request for booking confirmation number [censored].

We confirm that your refund request has been processed back to the form of payment used to pay for your booking. Your issuing bank will take 5-7 working days to process this refund amount back to your account.

The amount refunded to your credit/debit card is GBP 89.40

Yours sincerely

Ryanair Customer Services

This still does make me completely happy. How come a customer does not have implicit rights to cancel his/her order in this case. Consumers should be better protected as it cannot be left to corporations big or small to make their mind up about it by themselves. The market apparently isn’t competitive enough or developed enough so that we can trust corporations to do the right thing. I would suggest this would be better off as a pan-EU legislation rather than leaving it to each individual EU member.

Customers are usually allowed to cancel their order without explanation as long as its not something that is made specifically for the user and/or it cannot be resold to another customer. This is clearly not the case with airline tickets as they can be resold very quickly (usually for an even higher price as these tend to be higher the closer you are to the departure date).

I really feel strongly about this as we are often, as consumers, left to the mercy of companies who can quite strongly defend their own interests – but often we either can’t defend ourselves our cannot afford it. I have been strongly tempted to get in touch with the local M.P. (member of parliament) who, in my case, is Mr. Stephen Crabb (cons).

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Ever since I moved to Wales 2 years ago I had a quiet wish to climb the highest peak in this country – Snowdon. Last weekend was showing to be a perfect opportunity to fulfil that wish. I was working only till 12 pm and the forecast was for sunshine and high temperatures stretching way into the following week. Getting some good literature, so you know what your are doing, is very advisable.

View from Garnedd Ugain: to the right is Snowdon and to the left is Y Lliwedd with its three peaks ) from left Lliwedd Bach, East peak and West peak. Any similarities with Triglav are strictly coincidental

If you are based in southwest Wales it is a good idea to head up there on the day before you are climbing as the road trip takes you over three hours. There are no motorways or even dual carriageways between the south and north parts of Wales! Instead of going for a more expensive option of a hotel or B&B (the decision to go to Snowdon was make pretty late and the hotel accommodations were either not available or very pricey) I opted for a campsite. The last camping I did was for a skydiving tournament that was held in my “home” DZ in Prečna near Novo mesto a few years back and I was a bit worried I might forget to bring along something essential. Hold that thought.

See the full photo gallery here.

There was a slight snag with camping in this part of Wales. I looked at the weather forecast and the low day temperatures were very, very close to freezing – and I mean 0° or 1°C. This was the forecast for Llanberris. So instead I went for campsites a bit closer to the sea and, of course, the warmth. I found one close to the town of Penrhyndeudraeth called Barcdy. Would recomend it, but it is a bit more pricey then others: it cost £10/person/night for a tent – other campsites were around £6 or £7. The additional problem you might have to contend with is kids – there was a family that came to the camp after me and they put up their tent right next to mine and, you guessed it, had a bunch of very noisy kids with them. Don’t seem to be a big fan of them, but would maybe feel different, if they were mine – and I stress – MAYBE .

Coming back to the issue of forgetting things – by some strange reason I forgot to take my sleeping bag with me – when I returned home on Sunday it was there, sitting on the floor in my bedroom, waiting to be taken along. I put all my camping stuff on one big pile to pack in the car and somehow I missed it. Thank god for sat-navs and Tesco Extra. I found one in Bangor that was open 24/7 and had a good selection of camping gear. The other unpleasant thing that happened was my car. At about 2 or 3 am it decided it is being attacked or stolen and the alarm went off. Now usually I wouldn’t be that upset about it but it was parked just outside the tent about 2 m away from my head with not much soundproofing in-between (if you can consider a tent wall soundproofing, that is).

The trek itself started off on a reasonable steep incline, with the morning sun warming my shoulders. I started on the Pyg track and then turned right on top of the pass to continue on the Crib Goch path. Now I would not recommend this route for beginners or young children – it can be very tricky. The majority of the track runs along the Crib Goch ridge and in some places is only about a metre wide with sheer cliffs on either side. Then you also have to contend with the wind trying to blast you off the cliff. If you have fear of hights then give this route a miss. You also might freeze on that ridge from fear and getting you down could prove to be very tricky. The route is also not recommended as a descend from Snowdon. I was surprised how much climbing was actually involved, much more than I was used to in mountains in Slovenia. This took a toll on my legs and I had to stop a few times, even on the descent, to relive the cramps in my upper legs.

There were not many climbers on the Crib Goch path but once you reach the 3m marker stone you joined the rest of climbers from the Pyg and Miners track and there were loads of them on that beautiful day. On this weekend it was like downtown Haverfordwest – full of people. The remainder is a short walk up to the summit walking by the Snowdon railtrack.

The Snowdon Mountain Railway goes right to the top of the Snowdon summit edit Delete caption

The descent on the Miners Track was a bit tedious and still quite stressful on the legs – it is almost completely covered by rock slabs and that does not make a very comfortable walking surface. In other places you have smaller stones and there you have to watch you dont sprain an ancle. There are some nice views of the lakes (see photo gallery) and the end part of the track is very easy – like a walk in a park

At the time of my trek on May 30th the top railway station was closed for renovations and there were no refreshments or toilets available. I was surprised not to see a local entrepreneur selling us drinks and snacks – I remember seeing someone at the top of Triglav and there definitely weren’t as many people on that summit as there were on Snowdon.

Glaslyn lake

Second location at the south Freshwater West carpark

Had the opportunity to have a walk from Angle to the Freshwater West beach and it looks the production team has a lot of logistics to deal with. They seem to have chosen two locations to pitch-up marquees, one is just of the turn from the road to Angle on B4320 and B4319. The second, you could say the main, location is right next to the beach at the southern carpark.

Just a warning to anyone who would want to have a look at the filming location. The B4319 road will be closed next week from June 15th to June 30th.

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Priceless

UKIP 2009 EU elections poster

Vsi se približno spomnimo, kdaj se je začela zadeva s prašičjo gripo. V Britaniji so na veliko govorili, da bo vsako gospodinjstvo na dom dobilo zloženko z informacijami o tej bolezni in kako se lahko zaščitimo pred njo.

Pa sem končno dobil to zloženko, in to v petek 15. maja – ravno pravi čas, ko je skoraj že vsega konec. Ne morem predvideti, da se ne bo bolezen pojavila naslednjo jesen ampak prav gotovo ne mislim imeti te papiranate navlake v dnevni sobi. Že včeraj sem jo vložil v fascikel okroglaste oblike.

Na zadevo bi verjetno lepo pozabil in se ne bi niti ne matral o tem pisati na tem spletnem dnevniku, samo zmotili so me predvolilni oglasi, ki so prišli skupaj s prašičjo gripo (sory, zloženko o njej). Ne samo da so prišli zraven, celo vtaknjeni so bili vanjo. Oprosti poštar, če si to storil po nesreči.

Zanimiva se mi je zdela vsebina in pristranskost teh predvolilnih oglasov. Upam, da bomo pred EU volitvami, ki bodo 4. junija, dobili še kako predvolilno reklamo kajti ti dve sta bili od precej hudih nacionalistov. Prva je bilo od BNP (British National Party), druga pa od UKIP (UK Independence Party). Ko sem malo pregledal vsebino me je kar malo zatiščalo – nisem bil prepričan ali na defekacijo ali na bruhanje, vsekakor pa mi je bilo jasno, da s tekimi vsebinami ne samo, da Britanije ne bo nikoli sprejela evra, ampak, da se zna zgodit, da bo celo izstopila iz Evropske Unije.

Dodatna težava se pojavlja z afero glede parlamentarcev in obiranja državnega proračuna na račun stroškov, ki naj bi jih imeli z opravljanjem svojih parlamentarnih dolžnosti. Ljudem so se parlamentarci in parlamentarne stranke tako zamerile, da analitiki predvidevajo precej višjo podporo prav marginalnim strankam, kot sta BNP in UKIP. Med stranke, ki bi pridobile na številu glasov naj bi bile tudi stranke zelenih.

Naj še malo opišem te oglase, ki sem jih dobil. Na UKIP brošuri je slika Winstona Churchilla, ki s prsti dvignjene roke kaže znak “V” za victory – zmago, spodaj pa poziva k volitvi za UKIP stranko ter navede zakaj: Recite NE neomejenemu priseljevanju, recite NE dnevnemu EU računu v višini £40 milijonov, recite NE EU kontroli vaših življenj. Ja madona, saj bi še Bruselj ratal proti-evropski, če bi jim tole pošiljal po domovih. BNP-jeva brošura pa tudi ni kaj boljša. Na sliki je srečna britanska družina s besedilom spodaj: britanske delovna mesta za britanske delavce – ker si to zaslužimo! Seveda zraven navedejo še parole proti EU nadzoru in evru in blablabla.

Da te srat prime.

- aja, sem rekel, da me bo na bruhanje. Pardon

Me sicer na dan volitev ni doma, ker bom na veterinarski delavnici iz abdominalnega ultrazvoka v Gloucestershire-u, se bom pa probal nalimat na volišče. Tu jih imajo odprte do desete ure zvečer!

Mest je bilo samo za nekaj sto, pred dvorano pa se jih je zbralo čez tisoč. Nekateri so bili doma nekaj hiš stran, drugi spet pa so se peljali več ur na avdicijo.

Za kako sekundo ali dve je tudi mene zamikalo, bolj kot ne iz firbca, samo bi si težko vzel dopust v tako kratkem času. Si bom pač moral ogledat film v kinu, tako kot mnogi drugi.

Freshwater West beach in Pembrokeshire

Of course not literally, but it was published today in the local newspaper that the Freshwater West (the location of one of my recent trecks: The difference is in the Angle) will be used as a filming location for the upcoming movies Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood remake.

The debate is now mostly concerning whether the beach will still be opened to the public and when the road will be closed during the filming in May and June 2009. The biggest problem I see is that there isn’t much parking available close to the beach anyway so I suppose that is why they will shut the road off.

See the gallery from the hike here and here are some photos taken of the beach…

• Beach assurance over Potter film (BBC)

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• Sir Ridley’s call for extras to fight Robin Hood’s band of merry men (news.bbc.co.uk)

The Chevron oil refinery

A small guard fort, probably from Napoleonic times. St. Ann's head in the distance on the right

The walk started on a very sunny day with hardly a cloud in the sky. As it was Easter Sunday I was better off arriving early as the crowds of tourists were soon to follow. Luckily only the beach parking area and Freshwater West beach were busy, the rest of the path not so much as people opted not move more than 500 metres from their cars.

The tower house in Angle

OK, so I don’t forget to mention this. It is about a reference in the hiking book to a  “leafy lane” – word of warning – the trees above are covered with nests and you would probably want to avoid the poo projectiles coming from the heavens. I also advise changing the path a little bit in the town of Angle by continuing pass the church on the right and turning right on a path through the playground, which, on the other side, continues towards an old guard tower.

As you continue on the coastal path you get the opportunity to have good look of the new LNG South Hook gas terminal – it recently had its first shipment of gas from Qatar and I heard the tanker that was docked in front of the terminal was spectacular.

The more exhausting part of the route is from West Angle beach to Freshwater West, there are many valleys to climb down and just as many to climb up from. A good idea is to pace yourself, especially on the ascent.

Have a look at the photo gallery but the photos, as usual, do not do the »live« views justice.

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• Liquid gas tanker docks amid safety fears (guardian.co.uk)

This one the walk no 27 taken from the book and is a bit of a deviation from the books theme – it being that there are 41 circular walks in Pembrokeshire. Well this walk is still in Pembrokeshire but it is not at all circular. However the authors can be forgiven for this as it is a very nice easy walk with some nice views, especially at the main Slebech estate (see their website for more details [nerdiness=on]Who the hell still uses frames, bad, bad[nerdiness=off]. If you are a birdwatcher then this walk should definitely not be missed. In quite a few places along the road you can reach the Eastern Cleddau and gaze upon the views of the river and the bird population that occupy it.

See the complete photo gallery here.

There is also quite a bit of history related to the Slebech estate and the church. It dates from the 12th century A.D. when the grounds were owned by the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem who “have their roots” in the first crusade. Cool.

I just love this photo, I think it is good enough to be framed

This was the longest of the walks in the book and a walk not to be reckoned with. It is long and by the end you just really want to see that lighthouse in the distance.

The authors say in the beginning of the walk »Although the longest of the walks in this book, there is nothing difficult about its undertaking« – Yeah right, either they (both authors) came home from this walk and their egos were to big to admit the agonizing pain in their muscles or they had themselves a post-hike LSD trip.

However there is apossibility I brought the toughness of this trip on myself as I completely forgot to bring along something to drink ending-up being rather dehydrated by the end of the hike. There are no refreshments to be bought on the way, not even in the part that runs through Goodwick

St. Gwyndaf's church in Llanwnda

A word of warning, in the first part of the walk as you leave the coastal path to start-up Garn Fawr it is a bit confusing as to where to turn. Do NOT continue on the paved lane. This will only end in tears – tears due to the realization you have to go back as you have gone the wrong way. There path signs is missing, well, I say missing. I found it hidden in the grass on the ground.

I was also quite surprised to find an inscribed stone commemorating the last invasion of Britain – by the French none-the-less in 1897 at Carregwastad Point. What were they doing here, we all know where France is, I presume they shot their navigator.

See the excellent gallery here.

Memorial stone on Carregwastad Point commemorating the landing of the French on 22 February 1797

Looking down towards Cwm mawr

What a thoroughly enjoyable way to spend a March Sunday. In fact it was so nice I wish the hike would have lasted a bit longer. Instead I took the opportunity to sit and enjoy the sunshine on the wooden bench by the Sychbant car park were this walk starts and ends.

The walk (no. 39: Mynydd Caregog and Carn Ingli) starts off with a nice steep hill and then should continue in a conifer forest. As this has now been cut down the walk continues in something more resembling a wasteland. Conifers are not a native tree in this area and due to the concervationalism of today a more proper forest is being planted. However I haven’t seen any signs of the this today.

a Pembrokeshire traffic obstacle

Once you leave this so-called forest the view changes into a more familiar Preseli hillside on the Carningli Common. The Carn Edward stone group did not really draw my intention so I skipped it and rather choose the hilltop on my left – Carn Briw – no doubt being, again, a decision influenced by my Slovene origins.

If you are walking in the area the ruins of the Carn Ingli fort (the translation of Carn Ingli is the “Hill of angels”) is a definite must-see, if not for looking at it, at least by climbing on top of it and enjoying the views. I attempted to bring the view to you but not getting the live experience does give the place its justice.

The book then states you should circle the fort on its north side and then find a path towards the hill on the eastern side. This is actually quite tricky but I was either lucky or my navigation experiences proved to be the basis of some good instincts. I though I completely missed those two poles and the tramway that were supposed to be somewhere on the descent. Instead I ended-up right on top of them – spot on!

See the complete photo gallery here.

The walk then continues towards some farms and ends up in the Cwm gwaun valley. The “second” part of the walk continues on a delightful path on the opposite side of the valley and there was absolutely nobody on it but myself. You will find a stunning forrest scenery, abandoned farms and even an abandoned mill.

I would definitely recommend this trek to anyone and the muddiness factor was quite low.

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I recently bought an iPhone from O2 so I had to switch my mobile operator from T-Mobile to O2. I explained this to T-Mobile and asked them if they could send me the unlock code for my old Nokia N95 I bought through them so I could use it for other networks.

And guess what, they did it and not only that, they also did it for free. I was sure they were going to wallop me with a huge bill for it but I was amazed when the person at the T-Mobile call centre offered to do it for free. I am really impressed and wouldn’t think twice before returning to them sometime in the future. I managed to unlock my phone last night and use my SiMobil Halo SIM card without any glitches.

See T-Mobile, it does pay off to be the nice guy

entrance to the mine

As the book states this is a walk where you can see lots of nice views and hardly meet anyone. And it was true for me. Only people I met were some farmers on a field, however the fact that I did the walk on a Tuesday afternoon might have had something to do with it.

I was especially surprised to see an actual waterfall, not very big but a waterfall nonetheless.

A big word of warning, the hike was extended by about 45 minutes just because the local farmers have apparently torn off all the path markings. This makes manoeuvring the field a bit of a gamble. After you get up the very steep field and go through the gate and turn right. Now go to the end of the field to the corner and turn left. There should be a very poorly visible stile. Once crossed continue on the left side of the field to the left corner where there should be a gate leading onto a path which then meets another path. Turn right and you should carry onto into the valley on the zig-zag road mentioned in the book.

See the gallery here.

Pentre Ifan Burial Chamber

Nice contrast from the Rosebush walk I took yesterday. This walk is no 40 called Pentre Evan Nature Reserve and I just a great forest walk with some hill climbing thrown in as well.

This was also the walk that was the most confusing as the instructions in the book did  not help in many parts of the woods. I got badly lost once and had to back-track quite a bit to get to the right path again.

Also worth mentioning that that a couple of fields at the end of the walk before you re-enter the woods for the last time have been ploughed and will be very difficult to walk once something grows on it or after a downpour.

Again this walk is very appealing, especially if it has been dry for a few days/weeks so there is less mud to deal with. I just wished I had a dog with me.

Also I found out to late that the four rock formations at the top of Carnedo Meibion-Owen  are off limits as there is some rare lichens growing on them?? I managed to pick the only one formation (the second) that had the warning sign destroyed and climbed on top to have a rest. Hope the relevant people correct the problem and put up the sign.

Grim looking Pantmaenog forrest, or what is left of it

It actually called Foel Cwmcerwyn and is the walk no. 20 in the book. There hasn’t been any proper rain for a couple of weeks so it looked promising. I had to abandon this walk weeks ago due to the fact that one big part of the walk was transformed into quite a substantial stream.

None of that this time, the sun was up, no sign of the before mentioned stream. The walk is actually quite a feat, lets just say I wasn’t going tapdancing that evening. My Slovene genes were intrigued but will none-the-less live to climb another mountain.

Didn’t take many photos as it turned a bit foggy once I reached the summit Foel Cwmcerwy.

Only one photo in this gallery at the moment and even that looks pretty grim. Nothing to see here so best move along.