Another week gone by

Another weekend gone by. This time, Baanisuu and I spent the weekend on Gozo, the sister island. We were staying at Ta' Marija farmhouse in Gharb. It accommodates 16 people (though it has 5-6 rooms), has a huge pool, well stocked kitchen and a large living area. We did not use the pool much.

This weekend came on the back of two large events.

One was the visit to London the week before (blog post in the working). The other was my dissertation viva on Thursday 25th. Basically, this was a sort of a 30 minute interview in front of some 7 people. You may think it is intimidating, but alas, the setting was not. I was situated at the head of an oval shaped table. That reduced the confrontation element. I knew all the people in the room except for the foreign examiner. Questions were though and at times rather tricky, but I think I answered them well. As expected, the trickiest came from one of my tutors...

So know I am waiting for the disseration and degree grade. In the meantime, I have some corrections to my dissertation to do.

22 September 2008 (Monday)

This day did not start well. First of all, it was the first day back to work after the brief spell in London. Second, on that Monday, primary and secondary schools restarted. So you can imagine all the hassle on the roads. Traffic is getting worse by the day. It will worsen at the beginning of October when University and sixth forms start and remain so until May/June of next year.

Not a good Monday morning at all.

London: Here we come!

Tomorrow I am off to London for the weekend. It promises to be an eventful weekend. Firstly, me and Baanisuu will be meeting our mates who have left this island for a better life elsewhere.
Secondly, we shall be attending a gig on Friday night that will feature the following great bands:

• Anathema;
• Paradise Lost; and
• My Dying Bride

Thirdly, on Saturday night, Baanisuu and I will be watching the musical Les Miserables.

Fourthly, we shall also be the standard tourist. Sightseeing, making photos, a couple of souvenirs, take away food etc.

Can't wait...

Lost for words

This blog has been quite dry lately, not much to say, not much to write. But, I have some news I would like to share. On Thursday 14th of February, I am off to Paris for a short break from this country, MIRM and politics. I shall be back on Sunday night, so if you want to catch me at the airport...

I shall not be alone of course. Baanisuu will join me.

A wonderful Valentine's Day present.

About freakin' time! Planning Summer School 2007 images

From Planning Summ...

A few weekends back, exactly on, Saturday 24th November 2007, I decided to dedicate the morning to upload some of the best pictures that I took early September when I attended the Planning Summer School in Swansea, Wales. I know, I have better things to do, but this was a job that had to be done sometime or another. Anyway, click on the image above to link to the online folder. I hope that someday I will manage to upload the Ireland pictures. But that is more problematic; there are over 600 to choose from.

Anyway, take a look...

Back from Eire

Yes, I am back.

What a wonderful place to visit. All green..and green. Coming back, I started suffering from... the green syndrome. Flying over the Maltese Islands, you see two predominant colours: brown (the colour of dryness) and white (the colour of our roofs and buildings). Get my point on green syndrome?

Well, on a positive note, the holidays was really excellent! We saw quite a lot and did as much as we can. We went from Dublin to Kerry, Wicklow and back. The scenery was lovely and food was great. I especially loved County Wicklow. It has such wild terrain and very few white colour (except for the above clouds). We stayed in Glendalough at an excellent B&B that was fit for Kings. Just wonderful. And speaking of the weather, we were very lucky. It rained on few occasions but we had the weekend that was nice and bright...good for walking and going to high spots to take all the panoramic pictures.

As usual, I promise the nice pictures...patience is a virtue

Off to Eire

This shall be my last post. Actually I don't know how I manage to post before going away. I shall be leaving for the airport in 30 minutes time. I just hope I have all in place.

Well yes, off we go. Me, Baanisuu and her parents for a promising 1-week trip in land of rolling green hills, legends and Guinness!

I have promised to show you the pictures of my Planning Summer School trip. Well, that has to wait a little more, but I should upload the pictures online when I come back. You know, it is just a touch of an 'Upload Photos' that is required....but that is just too difficult to press. Anyway, I am off to do the last 'Have I got this?' checks and aboard the Ryanair flight FR 7243.

See you in a week!

Back from Planning Summer School

Yep, I am back from this years RTPI Planning Summer School that was held at Swansea Univeristy, Wales. Since I was part of the international delegation (coming from Poland, Kosovo, Namibia and South Africa), we had an initial 3-day study tour. This took us to Bath, St. Davids, and Milford Haven.

The summer school consisted of lectures be keynote speakers on several planning related topics, followed by workshops. In all, there must have been around 140 planners coming from county councils, consultants etc. The first day featured an eco-day with most of the talks revolving around climate change. This was very interesting, mainly due to my deep interest in the subject. Other topics that were dealt with were the affordable housing issue and the changes to the planning system.

I had to do a 10-minute presentation which was attended by around 50 delegates. It featured some work that I was involved in. The presentation can be seen here.

This was a really great and fulling experience. It also gave me contact to several planners working in private to public posts where we often discussed issued pertaining to our countries. I also have to admit that I did a pub crawl with some guys from Swansea University up to Mumbles. We walked up, but came back with a taxi.

I am attaching a map of the University location below. The place was lovely and the weather was nice and sunny. Just perfect!

I shall be uploading some photos too.



View Larger Map

Swansea on the way

In a recent post, Time to blog, I mentioned how I had the chance of going to Swansea, Wales for a 4-day planning workshop. I managed to secure a place and will fly off to Heathrow Airport on Sunday 2nd September. From there, the guys from the planningsummerschool will be there and take care of me for the rest of my stay in Wales.

Excellent.

I shall be coming back the following Saturday mid-afternoon. I shall go home change, grab my bag and drive to Gozo. Baanisuu and all our friends will be there. I shall stay there for I day.

Then Monday, back to work.

Time to blog

Anybody knows what writer's block is? Well if you have been waiting for some posts, that is what it means - the inability to write. That does not include laziness, which is also part of the equation.

Anyway some updates on my recent doings and goings:

Present and recent past

I have passed all my exams related to the MIRM. Therefore, I have been promoted to second year (which will be a hell of a year bdw). So, at the moment, I am just doing nothing. And I plan to enjoy it while I can since September in soon with us and that means get back to work for me.

So recently I just seemed to never have enough of those BBQs, yes lots of them some three a week. They are fun and all but make you feel stuffed and piggy. I, for one, cannot refuse food on a plate, even if I have just ate, so avoiding food altogether is a good solution. I managed to put on a few kilos. Add also the beer (Hey, we're in summer! What do you expect me to drink? Hot chocolate?) and that makes me sluggish.

So I decided to do some exercise. I tried with the bike (I am a 24 year old beginner biker) but I am still scared of cars driving fast beside me. So I decided to try and run around a little just to keep me fit since as you know I have quit football for MIRM reasons. I plan to be back next year, if my body allows me that is.

So apart from doing nothing, apart from working and hanging out with my dear ones, that is it.

Future

The next big thing is Ireland in September. I am really really looking forward to it. This is really really true (apart from the fact that I should be reading the Lonely Planet Guide instead of blogging). That will be a nice 7 days between the 18th and 24th of September.

I am also going to Gozo, for one night with old friends of mine from my secondary school days. Plus I might be going for a workshop in Swansea, Wales. This all depends if I am accepted or not. I will post the outcomes later on.

Thesis. Of course, I cannot miss this out since it has been and will be a good common headache for the coming 9 months. Naturally, I have decided to focus on climate change, my daily online love. Will keep you posted on that too. In fact, I am giving too many promises (I just feel like the usual MP Mr Beaurocrat).

Culture shock?!

Culture shock is a
condition of confusion and anxiety affecting a person suddenly exposed to an alien culture or milieu (Dictionary.com).

Spending 12 days away from home in a modern European country where English is an official language and whose culture we have heard of and studied will not surely trigger such a shock.

The shock which I experienced was on my exiting of the plane, on my realisation that I am back home. It is not really a culture shock, it is an Environment Shock.

• Every day in Wales, I woke up to the chirping of birds, saw hundreds of them flying around, hunting and nesting (many of these are locally stuffed and displayed and form part of a hunter's pride).
  
• The weather in Wales was hotter than usual according to the locals, but nonetheless, everywhere was green. Back here all is dry and seaminlgy lifeless (though in fact it is not).
  
• I hear people say that we Maltese are the kindest...well than how do you describe the British? They are the first people to start a conversation, with the icebreaker being often the weather. They love our country, for its weather, beer especially Bugibba. In fact, they rarely go much away from there. They are also patient and kind.

I really love Wales and the great outdoors, together with the preservation and conservation of what nature and our forefathers have left us. I admit, I saw signs of degradation, present and past, such as the wide stretches of forest land cleared to accomate grazing fields as well as logging. But still, I felt as if I have spent more than 12 days there. We all did.

I am under culturo-environment shock!

Wales on the way!!

The final countdown has begun... in less than four days Baanisuu and me together with four close friends will be off to Wales. All preparations have been done, most of them by my dear Baanisuu who after finishing her A level exams, was kind enough to go through the Lonely Planet and find out all the interesting places around and along our path.

Our camping gear is also all set up, since we will be spending most of the lodging time on campsites. This includes but not exclusively sleeping bags, a rucsac, torches, rain gear, as well as maps, a compass and binoculars. This holiday promises to be a diverse and exiting experience from the start till the end!

Off to Cymru.....Wales

Well, almost actually, but in less than a month, I will be in the land of St. David. To say the truth, the holidays was booked way in January. Since then, not much preparation has been done, though we know more or less where we are going. We also booked a car and plan to go quite around. Our stay will be for 12 days.

Time for a good holiday. Since I started working full-time since last summer, I had to miss out on the long holidays which I was used to. Ok, we had a Xmas shutdown but not the two weeks I was used to during Xmas or Easter. What's more, I can forget the summer holidays. Just work work work. I guess I still feel I am a student.

So yes, I have to take care of my leave. In summer we have the usual long weekend to Gozo, as well as I will take some days off to enjoy the sun, sand and sea which this island is so much known for...or was....

Back to my forthcoming holiday... I have been saying I need to prepare myself more for the trip for ages. Yet, I waste my time, reading newspapers, or surfing the net for millions of other (useless) things. Neither buying the Lonely Planet did help. That's typical me, and then I grumble about the local authorities lack of forward planning...yeah right.

Well, there is also a good excuse. Going abroad in always an adventure; going abroad with just a road map, camping gear and a good book is even more; not knowing where to lodge and what to find once there can be problematic, but nonetheless exiting and fun. Time will tell..

...and by the way, we will be 3 couples, packed in one car like sardines