I have moved to the worlds golf paradise, with about nine golf courses within 10-15 minutes from my house. And quite a lot of the people I meet play golf. The only thing is that not one I meet plays to my lousy standards.
I started playing last year and got through my test just before the season ended. Sad to say, I haven't had any chance to play at all this year because of the move and all that came with it, and I can feel my hard-earned skill fading.
So I went to the least impressive golf course around here, the Rokers Golf Club, that also have a driving range, with my daughter to see if the clubs would obey me.
They did to some extent - I managed to not kill or injure anyone, and I got most balls to somewhere onto or near the driving range. It was a bit humiliating to have to shout Fore! when the ball went over a fence and onto the green of one of the real holes...
What I need now is someone about as bad as myself to play with, so if you are close by and fancy a terrible round (my handicap is 36+) - don't hesitate to contact me on the blog!
Monday, September 13, 2010
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
Tube strike and hirebikes
Yesterday, I got back to work from my holiday. I quickly noticed one thing - the hirebike scheme had really taken on, and there were no bikes at the docking stations around Waterloo when I arrived. I walked for ten minutes between the different docking stations from Waterloo to Blackfriars bridge, just to find them all empty until I managed to get a bike from someone that just left his.
I didn't think at the time that empty docking stations at Waterloo would mean full docking stations everywhere else. But it did. When I got to where I was going in Holborn, the first four docking stations I tried were full, and it wasn't until I got into deepest Bloomsbury that I could find a place to get rid of the bike.
I guess the bike redistribution hasn't really followed the usage patterns, and I really hope that someone is looking at the statistics for people trying to return their bikes. The amount of confused biking novices in London competing for the last vacant docking point is sure to affect the accident rate in London.
Today the tube has not been working due to a strike. Oddly enough - at the same time as a major strike is happening in France. I am sure they are not connected, but it certainly makes working in London for a company with French headquarters a bit of a challenge...
I have never seen so many people walking the streets of London as today. The massive train of lemmings leaving Waterloo for the City on foot was outright impressive. But it also meant even fiercer competition over the hirebikes, and I had to walk even farther than yesterday to get one. Returning it proved to be almost impossible, and I had to race two others for the last spot at the only docking station not ridiculously far from where I wanted to go. I won.
Tomorrow, I'm going to go to work at least an hour earlier than I use to, to avoid the struggle and the awkward feeling when walking away from the docking station in front of the two that didn't get to return their bikes...
I didn't think at the time that empty docking stations at Waterloo would mean full docking stations everywhere else. But it did. When I got to where I was going in Holborn, the first four docking stations I tried were full, and it wasn't until I got into deepest Bloomsbury that I could find a place to get rid of the bike.
I guess the bike redistribution hasn't really followed the usage patterns, and I really hope that someone is looking at the statistics for people trying to return their bikes. The amount of confused biking novices in London competing for the last vacant docking point is sure to affect the accident rate in London.
Today the tube has not been working due to a strike. Oddly enough - at the same time as a major strike is happening in France. I am sure they are not connected, but it certainly makes working in London for a company with French headquarters a bit of a challenge...
I have never seen so many people walking the streets of London as today. The massive train of lemmings leaving Waterloo for the City on foot was outright impressive. But it also meant even fiercer competition over the hirebikes, and I had to walk even farther than yesterday to get one. Returning it proved to be almost impossible, and I had to race two others for the last spot at the only docking station not ridiculously far from where I wanted to go. I won.
Tomorrow, I'm going to go to work at least an hour earlier than I use to, to avoid the struggle and the awkward feeling when walking away from the docking station in front of the two that didn't get to return their bikes...
Saturday, September 04, 2010
Body language
My daughter knows approximately 20 words in English, and is due to start school in year three on Monday. She just finished the first year at her previous - Swedish - school, and struggled a bit there, and I am a bit worried about her skipping a year and learning a new language at the same time. But on the other hand, everybody are telling me she'll be fine, so I'm sure she will.
One area where she isn't struggling is gymnastics. We took her to a trial at the local gym club yesterday, and she somehow got through the class doing all the exercises. And getting told to go for a more advanced group without understanding more than one word of what the coach said. The magic word was "Stretch", and was used quite a bit. I asked her afterwards how she'd done it, and she said "Easy, I just looked at what the others tried to do, and did it right". Some confidence...
So today she tried the advanced group in the same club and again went through the class doing everything right. Apart from one thing, where I could see the coach trying to correct her. When I asked her afterwards what is was, she said that she cartwheeled different from how the coach wanted her to do it. "How did you know that? Did you understand what the coach said?", I asked her. "No, the words didn't mean anything, but she showed me what I did differently", she answered.
It is quite impressive how unimportant words are sometimes, and how much you can achieve without knowing any. But I still hope that she catches up soon. English, science and history are going to be hell otherwise...
One area where she isn't struggling is gymnastics. We took her to a trial at the local gym club yesterday, and she somehow got through the class doing all the exercises. And getting told to go for a more advanced group without understanding more than one word of what the coach said. The magic word was "Stretch", and was used quite a bit. I asked her afterwards how she'd done it, and she said "Easy, I just looked at what the others tried to do, and did it right". Some confidence...
So today she tried the advanced group in the same club and again went through the class doing everything right. Apart from one thing, where I could see the coach trying to correct her. When I asked her afterwards what is was, she said that she cartwheeled different from how the coach wanted her to do it. "How did you know that? Did you understand what the coach said?", I asked her. "No, the words didn't mean anything, but she showed me what I did differently", she answered.
It is quite impressive how unimportant words are sometimes, and how much you can achieve without knowing any. But I still hope that she catches up soon. English, science and history are going to be hell otherwise...
Thursday, September 02, 2010
Heavy plant crossing
Yesterday, when driving on the A24 towards the south coast, we saw a sign warning for a "Heavy Plant Crossing". We couldn't understand what it means, and after just getting lots of search results referring to an Indie Blues band on Google, I really need someone to help out.
Does it mean that massive trees are occasionally crossing the road?
Like the Amazon Walking Palm trees? Guess they don't really exist in the UK though...
Or does it mean that a factory of some sort crosses the road?
I really like this video - the guy is obviously liking driving big machinery!
Or is it actually an ad for an Indie Blues band gig ahead?
Please comment with your answer. I wouldn't want to crash into either...
English for foreign kids
Today we went to Ina's and Leon's new school to visit and get the school uniform details we couldn't get elsewhere - ties, cardigan, sweaters, PE shorts and t-shirts with the school colours and logo on them. I asked a lot of questions around their routine in handling children without any knowledge of English, and they were quite relaxed about it. Until I started asking lots of detailed questions on lunch routines, which was the proper tie knot and other things they take for granted everyone knows. I think they got a bit worried after that.
My image of UK schools was that they were really old (and old-fashioned) and that the curriculum was more about talking about ancient battles and polo than teaching things of actual value - an image that got underpinned by David Cameron as he worried about the London school his children should be going to after he moved to 10 Downing Street.
But the school seemed really nice, and was refurbished a few years ago - and completely changed that image. They are a bit slower in teaching subjects like maths and foreign languages than at the school the children came from in Sweden. Even though both Ina and Leon are skipping a year, they are ahead of the school's plan for the year they are going to be in. And they started school at the age of six - here they start when the children are four years old. But having said that - they focus on a considerably broader curriculum with for example music and art/crafts rather than just focusing on the core subjects like maths, literacy and science. And the atmosphere seems quite a lot more adjusted to the children's actual needs here.
When I looked for literature for my children to learn English from, I found my old English textbook from fourth grade - probably a reason for my image of the English school system...
My image of UK schools was that they were really old (and old-fashioned) and that the curriculum was more about talking about ancient battles and polo than teaching things of actual value - an image that got underpinned by David Cameron as he worried about the London school his children should be going to after he moved to 10 Downing Street.
But the school seemed really nice, and was refurbished a few years ago - and completely changed that image. They are a bit slower in teaching subjects like maths and foreign languages than at the school the children came from in Sweden. Even though both Ina and Leon are skipping a year, they are ahead of the school's plan for the year they are going to be in. And they started school at the age of six - here they start when the children are four years old. But having said that - they focus on a considerably broader curriculum with for example music and art/crafts rather than just focusing on the core subjects like maths, literacy and science. And the atmosphere seems quite a lot more adjusted to the children's actual needs here.
When I looked for literature for my children to learn English from, I found my old English textbook from fourth grade - probably a reason for my image of the English school system...
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