This blog is now being hosted back at the mothership!
Go to philsmy.com
Sunday 8 November 2009
Friday 21 August 2009
bizarre note on amazon.co.uk
Books, Music, DVD and Video items
Most countries in the world. Please note that customers in the US and Canada may be restricted to one copy of certain book titles because multiple copies may infringe US copyright laws
Most countries in the world. Please note that customers in the US and Canada may be restricted to one copy of certain book titles because multiple copies may infringe US copyright laws
Saturday 1 August 2009
dvdgo
Ok - we already know they are crap at customer service (looking back over the past 6 months I've probably sent 30 emails and had 4 answers)... but now they've broken their site - again - and left it while they all toddle off for the weekend.
They must have the worst IT department in Spain!
Wednesday 29 July 2009
Beskine - Nicked!
Here are a couple articles about Donald Beskine - you can search my blog here for more stories about him.
Tuesday 26 May 2009
Action Required - Spanish Dog Shelter in Risk
From ADANA
Having occupied the perrera for more than 10yrs, by formal agreement with
the Ayuntamiento, we have now been informed (by them) that we are there
illegally and that the order has been given for the dogs to be removed and
taken to Refugio (the place where all the strays are taken when rounded up
by the authorities)!
We will resist this with every strategy available to us, including
blockading the road if necessary. In addition, we will notify all the media
and press at the first sign of anyone trying to touch our dogs. We have 121
dogs in the perrera at the moment.
I am now appealing for volunteers to help us keep watch on the perrera each
day between 4.30pm and 8.30pm, which is when the staff are no longer there.
Volunteers would be required to notify us immediately if anyone arrives to
take out the dogs. They would not be expected to do anything else - no
confrontation etc. - but we need to be capable of mobilizing as many of our
volunteers & members as quickly as possible in order to stage a
demonstration and involve the media.
If you are willing to be involved in any capacity, either as a "watcher" or
as a demonstrator, please reply with your contact telephone number and
indication of availability.
Thank you,
Janet Greenstreet
--
President
ADANA
presidenta@adana.es
952 887 533
680 927 542
Having occupied the perrera for more than 10yrs, by formal agreement with
the Ayuntamiento, we have now been informed (by them) that we are there
illegally and that the order has been given for the dogs to be removed and
taken to Refugio (the place where all the strays are taken when rounded up
by the authorities)!
We will resist this with every strategy available to us, including
blockading the road if necessary. In addition, we will notify all the media
and press at the first sign of anyone trying to touch our dogs. We have 121
dogs in the perrera at the moment.
I am now appealing for volunteers to help us keep watch on the perrera each
day between 4.30pm and 8.30pm, which is when the staff are no longer there.
Volunteers would be required to notify us immediately if anyone arrives to
take out the dogs. They would not be expected to do anything else - no
confrontation etc. - but we need to be capable of mobilizing as many of our
volunteers & members as quickly as possible in order to stage a
demonstration and involve the media.
If you are willing to be involved in any capacity, either as a "watcher" or
as a demonstrator, please reply with your contact telephone number and
indication of availability.
Thank you,
Janet Greenstreet
--
President
ADANA
presidenta@adana.es
952 887 533
680 927 542
Tuesday 21 April 2009
Shikoku Pilgrimage - Day 4
The next day we got up and before breakfast we had climbed the 75 steps (and 62 further steps) of Temple 23 and done the stamping, praying, incense lighting and photo taking!
So there and then we decided to spend the day here in Hiwasa and then head up back to Tokusima. We checked out backpacks at Hiwasa station. 100¥ per bag.
Hiwasa has a really nice castle perched on an impressive hill. It is well worth the hike up to it. And also you can follow a trail out around the far, ocean, side of the mountain and look out over the vast pacific. Pretty spectacular.
From there we went back down the mountain and over to the beach - turtle free for now - to dip our toes in the Pacific.
Temple 23 is impressive and all of this combined makes Hiwasa a hilight.
We had a lunch of bento from the stalls and shops around Hiwasa station, collected our bags and got back on the train (direct!) to Tokushima, pretty worn out - again - from a day of walking around Hiwasa.
We got back to Tokushima and showed up at the Toyoko Inn again! They had a room - and here was another bonus of getting the Toyoko Inn Membership card - Sundays are 30% off!
So there and then we decided to spend the day here in Hiwasa and then head up back to Tokusima. We checked out backpacks at Hiwasa station. 100¥ per bag.
Hiwasa has a really nice castle perched on an impressive hill. It is well worth the hike up to it. And also you can follow a trail out around the far, ocean, side of the mountain and look out over the vast pacific. Pretty spectacular.
From there we went back down the mountain and over to the beach - turtle free for now - to dip our toes in the Pacific.
Temple 23 is impressive and all of this combined makes Hiwasa a hilight.
We had a lunch of bento from the stalls and shops around Hiwasa station, collected our bags and got back on the train (direct!) to Tokushima, pretty worn out - again - from a day of walking around Hiwasa.
We got back to Tokushima and showed up at the Toyoko Inn again! They had a room - and here was another bonus of getting the Toyoko Inn Membership card - Sundays are 30% off!
Monday 20 April 2009
Shikoku Pilgrimage - Day 3
The plan was to go out and do Temples 4 - 7, stay and Shukobo (temple lodgings) at Temple 7 and then continue on to 8 - 10 or 11.
So, I got one of the girls from the Toyoko Inn to phone out to arrange the accommodations. I am not a big fan of the unexpected when it comes to sleeping!
And boy am I glad I did.
Let me preface this next bit by saying that yes, I know the Japanese have this strange inferiority/superiority complex (thinking that they are either much better or much worse than the rest of the world). They normally err on the superiority side. I watch NHK World all day, so I know this. So I was not suprised, just disappointed, when I found out we couldn't stay at Temple 7 'because we didn't speak japanese'. (now, seeing as pretty much only the Japanese speak Japanese you can equate this to being 'you can't stay because you're not Japanese'). Now, because of this inferiorirt/superiority thing I know that they justify this by saying that it is for OUR benefit they are refusing us. They wouldn't be able to communicate and therefore we wouldn't have a good stay. Or that the ground would be shaking and they would be running around yelling 'Earthquake!' in japanese and we would be thinking they were asking about dinner because of course we wouldn't notice the shaking. Or whatever.
There aren't too many civilized countries on earth where such discrimination would be tolerated, or even accepted. Especially from monks! But there you have it. Luckily for the Japanese such 'rules' don't exist in Germany or Spain or they'd be sleeping on the streets.
Anyway.
So that scuppered those plans and we decided to get out of Tokushima for the weekend.and, ironically, continue on numerically with the temples! The kind people at Toyoko Inn let us leave our bags there for 2 nights while we went off.
So - it was a bus to Temple 18. There is a bus that leaves from Tokushima station, as referenced in the Shikoku 88 book. This bus goes all over... so don't be alarmed! It takes 40 minutes to plop you down at the bottom of the hill from 18.
18 is GORGEOUS! It is what we had dreamed the pilgrimage would be. If you see one temple this should be right up there. Set in the woods up a hill (or small mountain as Marcie would claim) it is incredible.
From 18 to 19 you first walk for 20 minutes or so through a bamboo forest. Again - amazing. This decision to leave Tokushima was looking to definitely be the right one. You slowly walk into more developed areas and Temple 19 is in a small town.
We'd decided before coming over to Japan to skip 20 and 21 (and 12). The walk from 19 to 20 is about 18km, which is a looooong way when it is hot (again, 23c or so) and up hill. Also, there is no accommodation up there, or at 21 which is a further 6km.
19 is 5 minutes from a train station that takes you to within 2km of temple 22. So we hopped on the train and chugged down there. Speaking of chugging, we wanted to move on to Hiwasa - Temple 23's town - because we knew there were hotels there. So we raced, with packs, from the Aratano train station out to temple 22, did our praying, book stamping, etc etc (it was crammed with 4 buses of bus pilgrims as luck would have it) and raced back. The train came 10 minutes later! From there it was 2 trains to get to Hiwasa. There are direct trains, I think, but we had to switch through Anan.
We arrived at Hiwasa at 4:56. Temple's close at 5. Buggers.
We walked across the street from the station at stayed at Business Hotel Cairns. I assume that Business hotel is a classification, not a function, but who would be doing business in Hiwasa on a Saturday is beyond me. It is a SMALL TOWN.
But a word about the Cairns - clean room and great bed. Really nice.
Fishing village really. During the months of June/July perhaps more people are around because Hiwasa is also the site of the sea turtle egg nesting/laying. (Which funnily enough I had seen directly across the pacific in Nicaragua in November 2006).
But for now it was desolate. We found what is one of few restaurants and had a great meal. I had a sashimi platter. Nice!
So, I got one of the girls from the Toyoko Inn to phone out to arrange the accommodations. I am not a big fan of the unexpected when it comes to sleeping!
And boy am I glad I did.
Let me preface this next bit by saying that yes, I know the Japanese have this strange inferiority/superiority complex (thinking that they are either much better or much worse than the rest of the world). They normally err on the superiority side. I watch NHK World all day, so I know this. So I was not suprised, just disappointed, when I found out we couldn't stay at Temple 7 'because we didn't speak japanese'. (now, seeing as pretty much only the Japanese speak Japanese you can equate this to being 'you can't stay because you're not Japanese'). Now, because of this inferiorirt/superiority thing I know that they justify this by saying that it is for OUR benefit they are refusing us. They wouldn't be able to communicate and therefore we wouldn't have a good stay. Or that the ground would be shaking and they would be running around yelling 'Earthquake!' in japanese and we would be thinking they were asking about dinner because of course we wouldn't notice the shaking. Or whatever.
There aren't too many civilized countries on earth where such discrimination would be tolerated, or even accepted. Especially from monks! But there you have it. Luckily for the Japanese such 'rules' don't exist in Germany or Spain or they'd be sleeping on the streets.
Anyway.
So that scuppered those plans and we decided to get out of Tokushima for the weekend.and, ironically, continue on numerically with the temples! The kind people at Toyoko Inn let us leave our bags there for 2 nights while we went off.
So - it was a bus to Temple 18. There is a bus that leaves from Tokushima station, as referenced in the Shikoku 88 book. This bus goes all over... so don't be alarmed! It takes 40 minutes to plop you down at the bottom of the hill from 18.
18 is GORGEOUS! It is what we had dreamed the pilgrimage would be. If you see one temple this should be right up there. Set in the woods up a hill (or small mountain as Marcie would claim) it is incredible.
From 18 to 19 you first walk for 20 minutes or so through a bamboo forest. Again - amazing. This decision to leave Tokushima was looking to definitely be the right one. You slowly walk into more developed areas and Temple 19 is in a small town.
We'd decided before coming over to Japan to skip 20 and 21 (and 12). The walk from 19 to 20 is about 18km, which is a looooong way when it is hot (again, 23c or so) and up hill. Also, there is no accommodation up there, or at 21 which is a further 6km.
19 is 5 minutes from a train station that takes you to within 2km of temple 22. So we hopped on the train and chugged down there. Speaking of chugging, we wanted to move on to Hiwasa - Temple 23's town - because we knew there were hotels there. So we raced, with packs, from the Aratano train station out to temple 22, did our praying, book stamping, etc etc (it was crammed with 4 buses of bus pilgrims as luck would have it) and raced back. The train came 10 minutes later! From there it was 2 trains to get to Hiwasa. There are direct trains, I think, but we had to switch through Anan.
We arrived at Hiwasa at 4:56. Temple's close at 5. Buggers.
We walked across the street from the station at stayed at Business Hotel Cairns. I assume that Business hotel is a classification, not a function, but who would be doing business in Hiwasa on a Saturday is beyond me. It is a SMALL TOWN.
But a word about the Cairns - clean room and great bed. Really nice.
Fishing village really. During the months of June/July perhaps more people are around because Hiwasa is also the site of the sea turtle egg nesting/laying. (Which funnily enough I had seen directly across the pacific in Nicaragua in November 2006).
But for now it was desolate. We found what is one of few restaurants and had a great meal. I had a sashimi platter. Nice!
Sunday 19 April 2009
Shikoku Pilgrimage - Day 2
We decided to do the temples out of order. The reason for this was simply economic - the Toyoko Inn is such a good deal that I wanted to maximise our nights there. So, instead of going out and continuing on from temple 3, where we left off, we headed out to Temple 13. Temple 13 was a bus ride from Tokushima Station, about 5 minutes walk from the hotel.
The bus takes you to within a minute of Temple 13. But it is a 30 minute bus ride. The Shikoku 88 Temple Guide is very handy in telling you what buses stop near a temple, but, it is lacking in 2 areas - how long and how much (and how often, as we found out later).
So we started at Temple 13. Yes, this is cheating a little, but oh well. Temples 13 and 14 are in the outskirts of Tokushima and 14 especially is beautiful - set on an out-cropping of rock. Then on to 15 and you start to hit town a bit more. 16 is in town and 17 is REALLY in town.
The whole walk was around 9km, which, in 24c is a pretty good walk. We did it in around 3 hours. Yes, 3 hours to do 9km sucks, but, you have to spend 20 minutes at least at a temple, praying, filling in prayer cards and getting your book stamped, etc.
From 17 we walked back 1.5km to Kô station and took a train back to Tokushima station. We got back around 3:30 or 4.
Just to the left as you come out of Tokushima station and get up to the main road there is a nice little Ramen shop. You buy tickets out front from a machine. It's not fine dining but it is cheap and damn tasty! These kinds of things - with no English - are daunting to travellers but just get the 480¥ tickets, that gets you the soup.
The bus takes you to within a minute of Temple 13. But it is a 30 minute bus ride. The Shikoku 88 Temple Guide is very handy in telling you what buses stop near a temple, but, it is lacking in 2 areas - how long and how much (and how often, as we found out later).
So we started at Temple 13. Yes, this is cheating a little, but oh well. Temples 13 and 14 are in the outskirts of Tokushima and 14 especially is beautiful - set on an out-cropping of rock. Then on to 15 and you start to hit town a bit more. 16 is in town and 17 is REALLY in town.
The whole walk was around 9km, which, in 24c is a pretty good walk. We did it in around 3 hours. Yes, 3 hours to do 9km sucks, but, you have to spend 20 minutes at least at a temple, praying, filling in prayer cards and getting your book stamped, etc.
From 17 we walked back 1.5km to Kô station and took a train back to Tokushima station. We got back around 3:30 or 4.
Just to the left as you come out of Tokushima station and get up to the main road there is a nice little Ramen shop. You buy tickets out front from a machine. It's not fine dining but it is cheap and damn tasty! These kinds of things - with no English - are daunting to travellers but just get the 480¥ tickets, that gets you the soup.
Monday 13 April 2009
shikoku day 1
We got to Tokushima on Wednesday late afternoon but after traveling for about 20 hours we decided NOT to immediately start in on the pilgrimage. We went for sushi first - after checking into the Toyoko Inn.
I've never stayed at a TI before and I have to say I am now a complete and utter fan. First of all it is a BARGAIN! for 2 people it is around 8100¥ (at least here in Tokushima). Plus you get breakfast, free internet, free land line calls in japan and occasionally free dinner (though we haven't taken them up on it). The staff is the usual very service aware Japanese, but also very friendly. I even joined the Toyoko Inn Points Club because you get to check in an hour earlier, 30% off on Sunday stays and also you get a free night for every 10. You can't beat that! The rooms are average by japanese standards and the beds are hard but comfortable. I am a complete convert. (there are also other perks of joining, like discounted car rental that we will use on the next trip).
Anyway, on Thursday we started in on the mission - the first quarter of the 88 Sacred Temple pilgrimage.
Problem 1 - the heat. Wow is it hot here! Temperatures are over 20C making it pretty hot for walking. Most of the route we will be doing is in towns or outskirts with little shade. This is going to slow us down a little and limit our distance.
So, not wanting to over do it we go out to Temple 1 and buy our pilgrim gear. Because of the heat - and the expense - we pare it back a little to just the jacket and staff. We have our own hiking hats and the thought of the bamboo hat in this heat was not at all appealing. We also had to get prayer cards, incense offerings, stamp books and I bought the great 88 Temple Route book which has detailed maps and info.
This trip I have my new iPhone with us, loaded up with a GPS app that I will use to mark the temples we visit and track our progress.
We moved on from Temple 1 to 2. Yes - it is HOT. And then from 2 to 3. We were joined on that leg by this italian guy we met a few times over the next few days.
He had done the Santiago de Compestelo (Catholic) pilgrimage last year. He's been in Japan since January doing the pilgrimage. He started, bizarrely, at Temple 36. Now, there is no rule about the order you do them in or where you start, but by any standards 36 is a strange choice. It's not even near a big city! Anyway, he found Santiago better because there was a more group atmosphere. Of course, that is kind of the point of this one - to do it on your own. It is a time for inward reflection. You could say that is a big difference between Buddhism and Catholicism. Buddhism occurs without. Catholicism occurs in church with a group.
Anyway, we parted company at Temple 3. He was moving onwards and we were done for the day. We took the train from Itano station back to Tokushima station.
We had dinner that night with David Moreton. David has written a nice guide on the pilgrimage and is somewhat of an expert on it. Also at the dinner was Don Weiss, who also has a book online about the pilgrimage. Don has done the whole thing (which is 1200 km!) twice on foot. Once forwards and once backwards. No, not back to back. What are you crazy!? Also in attendance were Sherry and Bianca. They'd just finished doing 53 of the 88 temples by rental car (which is impressive all by itself given that between them their spoken Japanese amounts to ordering sushi and their ability to read it is non-existant). American ladies in their 50s (I'm guessing) they made the dinner a hoot. Also there was Claire (another Canadian, tipping the balance! Canadians 4, Americans 3!) and two kids -Don's daughter and Claire's.
We ate and ate at an all you can eat restaurant and had a good time.
We collapsed, stuffed, back to the hotel.
I've never stayed at a TI before and I have to say I am now a complete and utter fan. First of all it is a BARGAIN! for 2 people it is around 8100¥ (at least here in Tokushima). Plus you get breakfast, free internet, free land line calls in japan and occasionally free dinner (though we haven't taken them up on it). The staff is the usual very service aware Japanese, but also very friendly. I even joined the Toyoko Inn Points Club because you get to check in an hour earlier, 30% off on Sunday stays and also you get a free night for every 10. You can't beat that! The rooms are average by japanese standards and the beds are hard but comfortable. I am a complete convert. (there are also other perks of joining, like discounted car rental that we will use on the next trip).
Anyway, on Thursday we started in on the mission - the first quarter of the 88 Sacred Temple pilgrimage.
Problem 1 - the heat. Wow is it hot here! Temperatures are over 20C making it pretty hot for walking. Most of the route we will be doing is in towns or outskirts with little shade. This is going to slow us down a little and limit our distance.
So, not wanting to over do it we go out to Temple 1 and buy our pilgrim gear. Because of the heat - and the expense - we pare it back a little to just the jacket and staff. We have our own hiking hats and the thought of the bamboo hat in this heat was not at all appealing. We also had to get prayer cards, incense offerings, stamp books and I bought the great 88 Temple Route book which has detailed maps and info.
This trip I have my new iPhone with us, loaded up with a GPS app that I will use to mark the temples we visit and track our progress.
We moved on from Temple 1 to 2. Yes - it is HOT. And then from 2 to 3. We were joined on that leg by this italian guy we met a few times over the next few days.
He had done the Santiago de Compestelo (Catholic) pilgrimage last year. He's been in Japan since January doing the pilgrimage. He started, bizarrely, at Temple 36. Now, there is no rule about the order you do them in or where you start, but by any standards 36 is a strange choice. It's not even near a big city! Anyway, he found Santiago better because there was a more group atmosphere. Of course, that is kind of the point of this one - to do it on your own. It is a time for inward reflection. You could say that is a big difference between Buddhism and Catholicism. Buddhism occurs without. Catholicism occurs in church with a group.
Anyway, we parted company at Temple 3. He was moving onwards and we were done for the day. We took the train from Itano station back to Tokushima station.
We had dinner that night with David Moreton. David has written a nice guide on the pilgrimage and is somewhat of an expert on it. Also at the dinner was Don Weiss, who also has a book online about the pilgrimage. Don has done the whole thing (which is 1200 km!) twice on foot. Once forwards and once backwards. No, not back to back. What are you crazy!? Also in attendance were Sherry and Bianca. They'd just finished doing 53 of the 88 temples by rental car (which is impressive all by itself given that between them their spoken Japanese amounts to ordering sushi and their ability to read it is non-existant). American ladies in their 50s (I'm guessing) they made the dinner a hoot. Also there was Claire (another Canadian, tipping the balance! Canadians 4, Americans 3!) and two kids -Don's daughter and Claire's.
We ate and ate at an all you can eat restaurant and had a good time.
We collapsed, stuffed, back to the hotel.
Sunday 12 April 2009
More news on Lifetimes magazine and Donald Beskine
Now, you'd think I'd be blogging about our current adventure of hiking the Shikoku Pilgrimmage in Japan, but, this bit of news just came my way.
It seems that the founder of LifeTimes magazines has other worries apart from my blog!
The UK High Court seems to have ordered a company of his closed in the UK.
So - all you people down on the Costa del Sol beware!
It seems that the founder of LifeTimes magazines has other worries apart from my blog!
The UK High Court seems to have ordered a company of his closed in the UK.
So - all you people down on the Costa del Sol beware!
Wednesday 18 March 2009
Great quote
Learning to dislike children at an early age saves a lot of expense and aggravation later in life.
- Robert Byrne
- Robert Byrne
Friday 27 February 2009
15 years ago I was in Miami
I was in Miami and somehow ended up on a cruise ship getting married to a wonderful woman. 15 years later, and through ups and downs, we are still together and life is pretty good.
There is much that could be said but at the end of the day it stands for itself. To quote our dear late friend Kurt... 'and so it goes'.
There is much that could be said but at the end of the day it stands for itself. To quote our dear late friend Kurt... 'and so it goes'.
Monday 19 January 2009
Thursday 15 January 2009
Sunday 4 January 2009
Great things from Google Maps
I wanted to see how to get from Melbourne, Australia to Fukuoka, Japan (don't ask!). So, hey, this is what google maps is for right? Directions?
Here is step 40:
Um... Kayak across Pacific Ocean?!
Here is step 40:
Um... Kayak across Pacific Ocean?!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
