A very short post, made on my phone whilst travelling in Slovakia. today we have stopped for 1 night in Zvolen...
If you can, get here. Spend a few nights.
Lovely Middle European Square, beers and wine at less than a euro a glass, great food at the Hotel Polana... I have just enjoyed a bottle of Chateau Boutailley from Bordeaux for a knock down 13,5 euros.. well recommended by Polko.
Polko is planning a trip with some close friends for a special weekend soon.
Sunday 28 June 2009
Friday 19 June 2009
RAMBLIN' ON
Only a few days to go until I am back on my travels. This time is interesting as I will be with Mrs Polko (usually the case), Mr Polko the Elder and Mrs Polko the Elder. DON'T PANIC, I am not descending into a Tolkien-esque fantasy game of elves and trolls, Elders and scrolls (though that would be fun too). I am away on holiday for 10 days with my parents - their idea to go whitewater rafting at the ages of 70 and 73.. Great. No chance of backing out then!
The real reason I am very much looking forward to this trip is that I shall be meeting up with old friends in Slovakia for the first time in 15 years. I used to lecture in Bratislava as part of my Jean Monnet (European) lectureship in Economics - a job that took me to Bratislava, Budapest, Caen and Murcia as well as Manchester. Which was nice. One person will not be there, but she is now living in New York - which is as good an excuse as any to plan a visit there too - as if Polko needs an excuse! Ramblin' is one of the things I seem to do best.
Cue the music – click the link and read along to the soundtrack!
It all started when I was around one apparently, though I don't have many recollections of this. Obviously. The Polko Elders travelled every year - working hard in between given that Mr Polko The Elder started his first business when Polko was 2 months old. Talk about risk taking (but then sometimes you've got to make the big bold moves in life). Later we would travel more than once a year, taking Polko and Brother Polko to almost every country in Europe, Polko to Scotland once a year for ice hockey training and lots of places in Britain in between.
Then I turned 17, left sixth form (A Levels for those outside Britain) early as it wasn’t the place for me – nor any other free-minded individual it would seem as many more left after me – and I ended up in London. Once I had worked the ‘streets of gold’ syndrome out of my blood I got back into the educational betterment way of life again and travelled in between college days – again throughout Europe mainly. Ten weeks around Turkey during the first Gulf War was exciting though. Polko and Scouse Polko (former girlfriend!) never made it to the Iranian border as planned. Luckily.
Jump forward a few years and I’m back working/lecturing/ramblin’ the Universities of Europe – followed shortly after by working in Brussels, Madrid and Hungary for a consultancy company. I escaped public sector employment before I got locked in with nothing to show for it but a final salary pension scheme and a colourless personality.
Since leaving the world of ordinary work for a much more rewarding but risky way of life I have continued my travels, for pleasure more than business these days but still as hooked as ever. St. Lucia, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Turin, Warsaw, New York. And the list goes on. Happily.
So, what’s it all about? Why am I going on about travel? I look back and think of all the people I have met, and the variety of cultures, backgrounds and mindsets each has brought me into contact with. From petrolhead Yanks in Hicksville parts of Arizona and California through amazing individuals that have challenged their brains and stamina from Eastern Europe to kindred spirits working for themselves in a similar vein to Polko Incorporated Industries (!) from Budapest to Dusseldorf and back again. Travel quite literally, but also emotionally, broadens the mind. Not a bad thing at all I say.
Polko Says… Life’s for living. Life’s for Ramblin’
Endnote: Thought I'd add this convenient plaque from Jean Monnet's grave - nice little summary of who he was for those that didn't know. A quiet but massively influential European citizen. Full wikipedia article here.
The real reason I am very much looking forward to this trip is that I shall be meeting up with old friends in Slovakia for the first time in 15 years. I used to lecture in Bratislava as part of my Jean Monnet (European) lectureship in Economics - a job that took me to Bratislava, Budapest, Caen and Murcia as well as Manchester. Which was nice. One person will not be there, but she is now living in New York - which is as good an excuse as any to plan a visit there too - as if Polko needs an excuse! Ramblin' is one of the things I seem to do best.
Cue the music – click the link and read along to the soundtrack!
It all started when I was around one apparently, though I don't have many recollections of this. Obviously. The Polko Elders travelled every year - working hard in between given that Mr Polko The Elder started his first business when Polko was 2 months old. Talk about risk taking (but then sometimes you've got to make the big bold moves in life). Later we would travel more than once a year, taking Polko and Brother Polko to almost every country in Europe, Polko to Scotland once a year for ice hockey training and lots of places in Britain in between.
Then I turned 17, left sixth form (A Levels for those outside Britain) early as it wasn’t the place for me – nor any other free-minded individual it would seem as many more left after me – and I ended up in London. Once I had worked the ‘streets of gold’ syndrome out of my blood I got back into the educational betterment way of life again and travelled in between college days – again throughout Europe mainly. Ten weeks around Turkey during the first Gulf War was exciting though. Polko and Scouse Polko (former girlfriend!) never made it to the Iranian border as planned. Luckily.
Jump forward a few years and I’m back working/lecturing/ramblin’ the Universities of Europe – followed shortly after by working in Brussels, Madrid and Hungary for a consultancy company. I escaped public sector employment before I got locked in with nothing to show for it but a final salary pension scheme and a colourless personality.
Since leaving the world of ordinary work for a much more rewarding but risky way of life I have continued my travels, for pleasure more than business these days but still as hooked as ever. St. Lucia, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Turin, Warsaw, New York. And the list goes on. Happily.
So, what’s it all about? Why am I going on about travel? I look back and think of all the people I have met, and the variety of cultures, backgrounds and mindsets each has brought me into contact with. From petrolhead Yanks in Hicksville parts of Arizona and California through amazing individuals that have challenged their brains and stamina from Eastern Europe to kindred spirits working for themselves in a similar vein to Polko Incorporated Industries (!) from Budapest to Dusseldorf and back again. Travel quite literally, but also emotionally, broadens the mind. Not a bad thing at all I say.
Polko Says… Life’s for living. Life’s for Ramblin’
Endnote: Thought I'd add this convenient plaque from Jean Monnet's grave - nice little summary of who he was for those that didn't know. A quiet but massively influential European citizen. Full wikipedia article here.
Wednesday 17 June 2009
SAT-NAV FOR DUMMIES!
This was in the news today..
about A Level exams in England and Wales..
"The Reform group claims exam modules have created a "learn and forget culture" - which it likens to using a sat-nav rather than map-reading skills."
I really like this analogy. For some time those that know Polko will have heard my many groans about stupid people who plug in a little black box and drive without even consulting a map or double-thinking their route beforehand. Then they moan because they are late, cannot find a property or the sat nav goes into an area without coverage (of which for some unexplained reason there seem plenty on this little island). My attitude is that sat nav's really are one of the least needed pieces of 'technology' we have ever invented as a human race.
But my concern is deeper than worrying about whether a delivery driver can find my house or not - since I live in a relatively rural postcode sector that is actually home to around 200 properties a sat nav will take you to the centre point of the postcode only - a mile away. doh! Those that use sat nav can suffer their own fates. I care very little about them turning onto a rail line or into a canal if they are that dumb.
But, what I really care about is the slow drip-drip of dumbing down and loss of skills in our society - running right through from the ability to read a map to small DIY jobs around the house to inter-personal skills. For example on this latter one, I was recently astounded to hear a barge of groundless diatribe coming out of somebody's mouth in an otherwise friendly happy environment just because that person thought they were being clever - some call it sarcasm. But when that's all you do, it's just plain ill-thought out bad manners and tiresome to be honest.
..Which brings me to a great hero of mine. This time last year Mrs Polko and I had the fortune to find ourselves in Scottsdale, an outer suburb of Phoenix Arizona. We visited Frank Lloyd-Wright's desert home Taliesin West. Lloyd-Wright's central idea and concern was the ongoing loss of skills that was befalling US and world societies during the first few decades of the 20th Century - these he saw being translated into mass manufacturing techniques, mono-culture building design and the basic onset of greying of the population, or dumbing down as we now call it.
Taliesin is a plot of land he moved to with his wife and a few followers (who made up his then fledgling architects business) in 1911. When they arrived there was nothing there. Not even a water supply. After many years of driving over the desert and fetching buckets of water to mix up earth/mud/clay mixes and setting stones that were lying around he and the clan Lloyd-Wright built a fantastic desert home and office complex that housed a large and by now renowned architects practice. It's still there today. And is still part of the Lloyd-Wright Foundation.
Simple but clearly very functional. No need for mod-cons there - the home built around the environment, not fighting it off as we try to do today. A work of art - as much for its ingenuity in embracing and harnessing the values of a clearly barren and harsh place as for its beauty in blending into the environment rather than trying to make a bold look-at-me statement.
So, there we have it. A triumph of 'embracing and accepting' over an ever expanding 'look-at-me culture'. I wish the people with sat nav's and the rather unclever despite thinking they are the most clever people around had thought in the same vain. The world would truly be a different place.
about A Level exams in England and Wales..
"The Reform group claims exam modules have created a "learn and forget culture" - which it likens to using a sat-nav rather than map-reading skills."
I really like this analogy. For some time those that know Polko will have heard my many groans about stupid people who plug in a little black box and drive without even consulting a map or double-thinking their route beforehand. Then they moan because they are late, cannot find a property or the sat nav goes into an area without coverage (of which for some unexplained reason there seem plenty on this little island). My attitude is that sat nav's really are one of the least needed pieces of 'technology' we have ever invented as a human race.
But my concern is deeper than worrying about whether a delivery driver can find my house or not - since I live in a relatively rural postcode sector that is actually home to around 200 properties a sat nav will take you to the centre point of the postcode only - a mile away. doh! Those that use sat nav can suffer their own fates. I care very little about them turning onto a rail line or into a canal if they are that dumb.
But, what I really care about is the slow drip-drip of dumbing down and loss of skills in our society - running right through from the ability to read a map to small DIY jobs around the house to inter-personal skills. For example on this latter one, I was recently astounded to hear a barge of groundless diatribe coming out of somebody's mouth in an otherwise friendly happy environment just because that person thought they were being clever - some call it sarcasm. But when that's all you do, it's just plain ill-thought out bad manners and tiresome to be honest.
..Which brings me to a great hero of mine. This time last year Mrs Polko and I had the fortune to find ourselves in Scottsdale, an outer suburb of Phoenix Arizona. We visited Frank Lloyd-Wright's desert home Taliesin West. Lloyd-Wright's central idea and concern was the ongoing loss of skills that was befalling US and world societies during the first few decades of the 20th Century - these he saw being translated into mass manufacturing techniques, mono-culture building design and the basic onset of greying of the population, or dumbing down as we now call it.
Taliesin is a plot of land he moved to with his wife and a few followers (who made up his then fledgling architects business) in 1911. When they arrived there was nothing there. Not even a water supply. After many years of driving over the desert and fetching buckets of water to mix up earth/mud/clay mixes and setting stones that were lying around he and the clan Lloyd-Wright built a fantastic desert home and office complex that housed a large and by now renowned architects practice. It's still there today. And is still part of the Lloyd-Wright Foundation.
Simple but clearly very functional. No need for mod-cons there - the home built around the environment, not fighting it off as we try to do today. A work of art - as much for its ingenuity in embracing and harnessing the values of a clearly barren and harsh place as for its beauty in blending into the environment rather than trying to make a bold look-at-me statement.
So, there we have it. A triumph of 'embracing and accepting' over an ever expanding 'look-at-me culture'. I wish the people with sat nav's and the rather unclever despite thinking they are the most clever people around had thought in the same vain. The world would truly be a different place.
Friday 12 June 2009
STAGE NAME. STAGE FRIGHT?
I picked up an interesting flyer in a Huddersfield coffee shop the other day...
This guy's gotta be kidding? Or at least going for the cheesiest stage name ever thought of?
Next thing we know he'll be on stage wearing his clothes back to front. Oh, that was Kriss Kross of course! Where did they go - such talent?!
Maybe have to take this posting down - it's messing with my later posts on the menu?????
This guy's gotta be kidding? Or at least going for the cheesiest stage name ever thought of?
Next thing we know he'll be on stage wearing his clothes back to front. Oh, that was Kriss Kross of course! Where did they go - such talent?!
Maybe have to take this posting down - it's messing with my later posts on the menu?????
Thursday 4 June 2009
ANOTHER 45 DEGREES..
A few weeks back the Co-operative Group, one of Manchester's largest and longest lived businesses announced their new Headquarters building to be built opposite their main location in the city. July planning permission pending it will look like this..
For those that know the Manchester skyline, this is hardly a surprise. Surprisingly enough the architect is not Will Alsop - who has somewhat cornered the market in (relatively) cheap to construct buildings of steel frame and glass cladding with a 45 degree roofline.
This time 3D Reid have designed a very similar look to many of Manchester's newest buildings, with a slight twist to the building body but that all too familiar roofline.
Don't get me wrong, the HQ will be a great addition to the city centre, more because its location will extend it northwards and out of the traditional city core (look up Miller Street on Google maps and take a look at the satellite view - lots of unused car parking lots and older industrial buildings abound at the moment). It also underscores the importance and strengths of Manchester as a key UK business location.
But, please. This one, like the rest of 'em, is just plain BORING!
For those that know the Manchester skyline, this is hardly a surprise. Surprisingly enough the architect is not Will Alsop - who has somewhat cornered the market in (relatively) cheap to construct buildings of steel frame and glass cladding with a 45 degree roofline.
This time 3D Reid have designed a very similar look to many of Manchester's newest buildings, with a slight twist to the building body but that all too familiar roofline.
Don't get me wrong, the HQ will be a great addition to the city centre, more because its location will extend it northwards and out of the traditional city core (look up Miller Street on Google maps and take a look at the satellite view - lots of unused car parking lots and older industrial buildings abound at the moment). It also underscores the importance and strengths of Manchester as a key UK business location.
But, please. This one, like the rest of 'em, is just plain BORING!
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