Breaking records

We don't need the Olympics in this country to break records - we have the weather. The month just gone has been awarded the title of "wettest June in the United Kingdom since rainfall records began in 1910" and "coolest June since 1991" (not as impressive that, but still). It's also been extremely dull, with just 119.2 hours of sunshine - that's on average under 4 hours of sunshine per day during a month with more than 16 hours of daylight per day. How depressing.

Looking at Met Office figures released a couple of days ago, there's not much to smile about. We've had twice as much rain as you'd expect for the time of year, appox. 9 mm more than we had in the incredibly wet month of June 2007. And the mean temperature was a very fresh 12.3C or 54.14F.

The only positive bit of news is that when looking at individual countries, this has only been the second wettest June in England (yay). So maybe my friend Josef was right when he said that we've had worse - although personally I am inclined to blame his newly-found sunny personality for this comment rather than attribute it to astute observational powers. After all, we've only had worse once before and it might not have been in our lifetime.

In case you're wondering, the Met Office speculates that movements in the track of the jet stream, a narrow band of fast flowing westerly winds high in the atmosphere, have contributed to the unseasonal conditions. I'd have a lot to say to that jet stream if I was ever to come across it!

By the way, I think the Olympic logo sucks - but not as much as the two mascots.

Parthenon lit by lightning

A bolt of lightning illuminates the sky around the 2,500-year-old Parthenon temple, high on the Acropolis during a heavy rainfall in Athens early yesterday morning. Fortunately, the temple is believed to have escaped any damage.

In a reversal of the norm, the skies over Greece were heavy with the threat of more storms, and the temperatures dropping overnight to 21°C (70°F). Meanwhile the usually overcast and cool skies over Britain have been startlingly clear, with temperates set to break heat records this week.

For once, I'm delighted to be in London rather than Athens!

Read more here.

Speechless Thursday

Meet Wenlock and Mandeville, the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic mascots. Words fail me.

Pray, pray, pray

You may have heard that there is a lot of political activity in the UK at the moment, as no one party achieved an absolute majority of seats following last week's election so we have ended up with a "hung parliament". I won't bore you with the details, suffice to say that every newspaper, every news report on the TV, every "top story" on the BBC website is about the election and the formation of the new government. I had to smile when I saw this poster outside a Baptist church yesterday. It seems to me that praying for the men and women at Westminster is an excellent idea in the circumstances.


In case you don't know, Westminster Palace, aka the Houses of Parliament, is the meeting place of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom - the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The Clock Tower of Westminster Palace, commonly known as Big Ben, is one of London's most famous landmarks. In reality, Big Ben is the name of its main bell (weighing 13.8 tonnes) - the official name of the clock tower is St Stephen's Tower.

Earlier tonight, I checked the long-range Met Office forecast for the UK. This is what the weather appears to have in store for us later this month:

A northwesterly weather type is expected to bring some spells of unsettled weather with temperatures starting normal for the time of year but becoming relatively cold again as we move into June. There are indications of above average rainfall amounts during the period, firstly over parts of northern UK but later southwestern and central parts appear to be the wettest. Otherwise rainfall amounts will be near normal.

To be honest, I think we really ought to be praying for drought....

Ash cloud, you say?

Several people have asked me what it's like to live under the Dark Cloud from Iceland, so I took some photos to show you.


Yes, the sky is clear! So clear, in fact, that you can make out a plane flying overhead - as well as the moon. Blue skies made an appearance a couple of weeks ago, before Eyjafjallajökull decided to sprout debris into the atmosphere, and have continued almost uninterrupted since. Apparently, the ash cloud is there, but it's too high up to be visible.


There is plenty of evidence that spring has sprung, and not just in the clear blue skies. The flowers are in full bloom, particularly the tulips and pansies, and trees are turning a tell-tale green colour.


I quite like this photo I took at a park nearby. It's a woman returning home from work, walking through the park while checking the messages on her mobile phone. I wonder if she's noticed the flowers?

There's nowt as queer as folk

It is a well-known fact that shutting large numbers of people in a metal tube which moves at great speed 30,000 feet above ground can create a certain amount of discomfort, and occasionally lead to tempers flaring up. But even rage has extremes. Take, for example, the Ryanair passenger who became so enraged when he was told he could not claim a scratchcard prize on his flight that he ate his winning ticket.

Ryanair, an Irish low-cost airline that operates throughout Europe, sells scratchcards as well as duty-free on their flights. The man in question was flying from Krakow in Poland to the East Midlands in the UK when he won 10,000 euros (£8,765 or $13,620) on a scratchcard he had purchased on board. For some reason, he got it in his head that the crew should be taking his winning scratchcard from him and handing over 10,000 euros in cash - then and there.

When the crew explained that they didn't have the necessary cash on the aircraft and therefore he had to wait until they landed to claim his prize, he got so frustrated he decided to eat his ticket instead.

Since the prize will now go unclaimed, the money will be donated to charity. Ryanair have asked the public to choose from a list of five charities by voting here. Voting will be open until 5th March.

God only knows what was going through the man's mind at the time, or why he thought eating his ticket would made him feel better! As far as I can work out, this incident has created an awful lot of free publicity for Ryanair and will in time make a group of charity bosses very happy indeed. As for the rest of us, I guess it's left us wondering if the world's going to pot, or as Karen put it, to hell in handbasket!

For those of you wondering how the title of this post matches the text, "there's nowt as queer as folk" is a British expression meaning "there's nothing as strange as some people". The ticket-munching incident proves that there's a great deal of wisdom in that statement.

Would you wear this?

Or even a high street version of it?

According to Spanish designer Isabel Mastache, the hottest accessory for men next Autumn/Winter isn’t a man bag, a belt, a scarf, or even a hat. Oh no. It’s a big fake woolly willy. And how about a jumper that covers your face to go with it? Or maybe a fake arm?

The above text is shamelessly copied from Heatworld.com. Many thanks to Caroline for emailing me the link.

If by any chance I've piqued your interest, click here to see more of Mastache's creations at CIBELES Madrid Fashion Week.

Whoever said a catwalk model's job is glamorous ought to think again.

Greek elections

Yesterday there were general elections in Greece. Elections generally involve a fair amount of travelling as a large percentage of the population vote far from where they live (out of choice, in order to maintain their ties to their hometowns).

Election days are always Sundays and those who vote more than 200 kms away from where they work usually have the Monday off. This means that friends and families have an opportunity (and an excuse) to get together, something that in these days of fast-pace living only ever happens at Christmas, Easter, weddings and christenings.


As there is no school on election day, polling stations are set up within local primary school classrooms, making school yards a hub of activity, only with more adults than kids.


The first two photos were taken by my friend Katerina Nomikou. Katerina is a professional photographer, who also took the fab Folegandros shots I showed you here.

I took the last photo at the school where I and my family voted.

In case you've not heard, the opposition Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) won a landslide victory. Reportedly US President Obama was one of the first foreign leaders to ring new PM George Papandreou to congratulate him, much to the delight of the local media.

After London... Rio de Janeiro!

In case you've not heard, Brazil will become the first South American country to host the Olympics after Rio de Janeiro was chosen to stage the 2016 Games. Parabéns Brazil!

I was kind of rooting for Chicago, but I have to admit, I like it that the Olympics are moving to a new continent. After all, Europe and the US have had their turn several times already.

What do you guys think?

Obamania

Two weeks ago I was looking for postcards to send to a friend who recently moved to the States. This one caught my eye, not only because it's showing Barack and Michelle Obama meeting the Queen, but most importantly because the actual photo was taken just days before it appeared as a postcard.

Wouldn't it be great if big events like this one were produced as postcards almost immediately? It'd sure make Postcrossing so much more interesting.

Gaza Crisis Appeal

The Disasters Emergency Committee, an umbrella organisation for 13 UK humanitarian aid agencies including the British Red Cross, Christian Aid and Oxfam, has launched a charity appeal to help ease the plight of people affected by the conflict in Gaza. Over 1,300 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict, and many thousands have been injured, overwhelming local hospitals. The destruction has left people without homes and many children without schooling; power, food and water supplies are insufficient to cover the population’s needs.

Normally, the DEC is supported by a network of television and radio broadcasters, the banks, the Post Office, BT, regional and national press and a range of organisations in the corporate sector. This time, the BBC have decided not to broadcast the appeal for Gaza on the grounds that it would compromise its commitment to impartiality. ITV and Channel 4 have no such concerns and will air the film.

If you'd like to help, this page will tell you how.

Life's for sharing

On Thursday 15 January at 11:00 AM, a flashmob-style dance broke out in Liverpool Street station in London, courtesy of T-Mobile. 400 dancers performed 8 different dance routines to tracks as varied as Lulu's Shout and Johan Strauss Blue Danube Waltz, whilst unsuspecting travellers whipped out their mobiles and took pictures and videos - those who didn't join in the dancing, that is.



To watch a high quality version of the clip, go to YouTube and select "watch in high quality".

The event, albeit short, was quite impressive. It was filmed with 10 hidden cameras and was shown simultaneously on TV and YouTube the next day at 9:10 PM.

For me, it's one of the best TV adverts ever. What do you think?

Do you have 5 friends?

www.maps.google.com/vote

Watching the Olympics al fresco

When: Thursday 14 August 2008 @ 7:30 PM

Where: Trafalgar Square, London

What: Londoners and tourists (those that were brave enough to sit around in the sub-summer temperatures) watching the coverage from the Beijing Olympics live on a giant screen.

The stands, lights, cordons etc. are in place for the Trafalgar Square Festival taking place at the end of each week during the Olympics, although I didn't see any performances while I was there.

Olympics by numbers

2,008 drummers pounded out the countdown to the Games

80 world leaders and 91,000 excited spectators in the majestic Bird's Nest stadium

$43 billion price tag

10,708 athletes from a record 204 nations chasing 302 gold medals in 28 sports

154 micrograms per cubic metre of polution (WHO safe level is 50)

5,000 years of history in opening ceremony and a 16-tonne crystal ball

100,000 police deployed to prevent attacks and protests

7,000,000 tickets sold

1 billion dollars spent on Olympic advertising on US network NBC

4 years prison sentence for housing activist Ye Guozhu who wanted to protest about Olympic evictions in Beijing

596 athletes in US team

5,000 yuan (480 €) for opening ceremony ticket

5ft 7in (1.70m) required height for performers

7ft 6in (2.28m) height of China's NBA basketball superstar

1,500 reported dead as Russian troops raid Tskhinvali

All shamelessly copied from today's edition of The Independent newspaper.

(Almost) Wordless Monday

The Evening Standard's two main headlines for Monday 7th April refer to the "unhappy shambles that the opening of Heathrow's Terminal 5 has become" (you've got to love the British art of understatement) and the hoo-hah surrouding the Olympic torch relay in Paris which resulted in the torch being extinguished at least three times (tsk tsk tsk).

Apparently BA's toubles have enriched the English language. From now on, when things go badly wrong, you can say you've been T5'ed. Not the most charming of expressions, but still. At least we kept the Olympic torch going. Heh.

Shaking news

This morning I woke up to news that a powerful earthquake hit Greece less than 12 hours after our departure (although I doubt the two were related hehe). The earthquake measured 6.5 on the Richter scale and was centered in the sea near Leonidio, a pretty little town on the coast of Arcadia - not far from where we were just two days ago.

Apparently it lasted a good 40 seconds (my cousin said two minutes, but I think she may be exaggerating somewhat) and was felt in Athens and all over southern Greece.

Currently there are no serious damages or injuries reported. Phew!