Simonlyon

Douce France

2012-01-26T07:19:00.000+01:00

Hey, if you're into France you'll just love this series by Arte called 'Douce France' (you know like the song that Charles Trenet sang - Douce France, Pays de mon enfance - and so on.

http://videos.arte.tv/fr/videos/douces_frances_en_bourgogne-6346566.html

Happy New Year - Bonne Année 2012

2012-01-08T19:58:00.000+01:00

Yes, yes, yes... I know it is already 8 days into the New Year but I suppose it is the thought that counts!

We spent NewYear's eve (St Sylvestre) at St Baudille de la tour with our friends and it was great as always to spend time with them. It was just a pity that Mireille and Eric couldn't make it as Eric was 'asstreint' (on call). Then we went up to Paris for 5 days where we met up with Kären (my sister) and Martin (her husband). We had a tiring but great time. In fact it was the other way round!! We went to Paris before New year, just shows how life is just passing by. I was back to work on Monday 2nd January. This has never happenned to me before!

Today we went to Vienne (France) to have a look around and to have a beer, it was simple but good fun. Going to finish there as I am talking to Niokos.

B-Happy New Year

It gets better

2011-11-22T14:30:00.001+01:00

I got this link from someone on my facebook page and would like to share it:

La Couleur des Sentiments - The Help

2011-10-29T09:42:00.000+02:00

Have you ever seen this photo?

Well, if not you should get to your local cinema or video store as this film is great.

Set in the early 60s (at one point we see JFK's funeral) it is a testimony to the racist society in Mississippi at that time as well as a good story.

Enjoy!

Toussaint - All Saints

2011-10-29T08:34:00.001+02:00

Here in France it is La Toussaint - All Saints. This is the time that graves are decorated and we think openly about those who were dear to us and who have died. Chyrsanthemums are the flowers of the dead and these are used to decorate graves.

Should you come to France and be invited to someones place, never give them chysranthemums. It's like giving someone lilies in the UK.

Diving into the depths

2011-10-26T00:01:00.000+02:00

Slowly, slowly slowly I can feel it as I begin to dive down! Pretence, fake, jealousy, foolishness - the whole caboodle!
Fine, (he secretly whimpers) of course work (he feels the tears pricking) oh, I thought I would go off for the weekend (he hears the lies), he knows this is not true! Why go away to be alone away when he can be alone right here?
Any news from the others? Hardly, there is rarely any news unless he calls! Not that he doesnt understand, they have lives to live and are living them - not wasting like him - not wasting the precious hours, minutes seconds until it finishes and there is no longer anything to wait for. The End.

Brasserie Georges, Lyon, France

2011-10-23T20:11:00.000+02:00

So if you are ever in Lyon this is restaurant is a MUST! The Brasserie Georges, opened in 1836 and is still open and popular today. A dining experience and not too expensive. Try it.

A good King Wenceslas morning!

2011-10-23T10:09:00.000+02:00

Opening the shutters there was a burst of cold air which made me think of the Christmas carol although there is no snow, well at least not yet!!

Tomorrow is my birthday!

2011-10-13T22:50:00.000+02:00

Early this afternoon as I was going to the local pizzaria to get a couple of piazzas, I had a sort of epiphany. I work in higher education and was walking through the campus. I've done this hundreds of times but today something was different. Perhaps it was the slight autumn chill but suddenly I thought to myself, "This was you 40 years ago"! I could see myself walking from hall to class along Ruff Lane in Ormskirk. Then I thought "Already 40 years, it seems like yesterday". In fact it isn't 40 years - ouff! It is only 38!! It makes all the difference, doesn't it? But life has passed by in a flash and there isn't much to go. That is all I thought, how quickly it all passes by and then there is ... nothing. So what am I going to do? Well really, I don't know but can I change?

I wish I could write like the last scene of American Beauty!

Dress rehearsal

2011-10-10T01:24:00.000+02:00

Most people must have heard this saying at some time in their lives 'Live is not a dress rehearsal'. I how true, death is around the corner. A number of times this weekend I have heard this: live your life as you'll never know when it is going to finish.

Steve Jobs, who died on October 5 2011, talked about this.

Harry Nilson: As Time Goes By (A little Schmilson in the night)

The thing is that I live life just as if it were a dress rehearsal! And I know it and wish I could do something to change this.

Don't live life in this way. Take it! And make it yours.

A lazy Saturday morning

2011-10-08T10:33:00.000+02:00

Do you ever have those moments when you know you should be doing something really important but just don't want to? Well, that is exactly what is happening to me at the moment. Some people call it 'chilling out' I just call it having a lazy time. This period won't last long, I know! But I am going to make the most of it now.

I just found this funny link:

Do you know what a Vlog is?

2011-10-08T09:54:00.001+02:00

Well I do now! And they seem to be fun although I am not sure that I would be very good on them. Firstly I am not the most photogenic guy in the world and secondly although I think I have lots to say, that is not the case!!

So what is a Vlog: simple - a Video blog!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axVHc2-mhmY

Have a look at some here. And as Davey Wavey says: Peace Out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhmL1KFz3Vc&feature=fvst

Making a little money!

2011-09-27T08:35:00.000+02:00

A few weeks ago I was surfing and so on and I came upon adsense which, by adding it to your blog pays you. Having just received a mail from them about changing the style or something like that I thought I would take a look and to my surprise I have earned 26 euro..... centimes!!! Well, it is not bad for just adding something to my blog but now I am wondering what you have to do so that millions of people will come to my blog; Not what I am doing now that is for sure!! H

Have you ever seen the film: Julie and Julia, well Julie wrote a blog about Julia Childs and had oh so many connections. But then again she was a journalist, with writing style, I do not have too much of that but I am still wondering what to do!!

Shower, dressed and off to work. Well, at least I have that for the moment to pay the internet bill!!

All in a title

2011-09-07T23:18:00.000+02:00

Since October last year, when I got a new job, I have worked long hours and have had to solve not just a few problems. Yesterday I was reading a revised version of the 'reglement d'interieur' of where I work when I came upon a change of my status. Everything is in a word and it reached out and hit me at once. My first reaction was to say nothing and just accept but today I couldn't.

Is there a difference between titles? Of course there is. A Duke is not a King, a teacher is not the Head teacher, an MP is not the Prime Minister, a nurse is not a doctor and a coordinator is not a manager.

When I said something to my immediate superior he asked 'well what is the difference?' as if he didn't already know.

Well about a couple of thousand euro a month in pay. I could have replied so what is the difference between a 'directeur' and a 'responsable'? About a couple of thousand in pay and light years in the ladder.

No, I am not going to leave things there. I was hired as 'Responsable' not as a coordinator, not that I bohoo the job, but I want my worth and they are not going to down grade me by changing the title.

Can I kill myself?

2011-09-07T23:11:00.000+02:00

I am going to talk about a couple of different things this evening and they are not related in any way except that they both come from me.

Firstly I have been watching an episode of 'Hard talk' on BBC world. This evening they were interviewing a couple, the Nicholsons, one of whom has for the last 6 years not been able to do anything for himself and he wants to die. The problem is that they live in the UK and assisted suicide is seen as murder.

OK, he can't do anything but he has an entourage who is there to help him. He is never alone and he knows that people love him from the 24 hour care and concern that is shown him by them.

Others in the world could take their own lives physically, but are afraid to do so, they are alone. They spend much of their time alone and are unhappy, but do we take about the moral issue about them?

Back to the grind

2011-08-29T19:53:00.000+02:00

Well, I have been back at work for a week now. Got back from my 3 weeks in Cambodia and Thailand and went straight into work. There really wasn't much to do last week as there were no students around but that has changed to day, I had a non stop 10 hour day! I am so looking forward to my next holiday but I don't have that many days left to spend!!

Just looked on facebook and it looks as if Global Student Outreach is starting to do some work too. They have an Australian girl over at the moment teaching. I'll try to do something like this next year too.

http://www.globalstudentoutreach.org/

A little bit of culture!

2011-08-18T08:37:00.000+02:00

A couple of days ago I thought I should take in a little bit of Thai culture, so having seen 'The Thailand Cultural Centre' as a stop on the underground what better than getting the underground to the station. On arrival I as a little surprised as the cultural centre is not only not linked to the station but there are few signs and few people who know where it is. After a hot 15 mins walk to where I had been told to go, I found something. In fact it is a complex of buildings, many administrative but a couple are exhibition halls and theatres. As I arrived so did groups of school children, what to see or do I will never know as noone was able to speak to me and tell me where to go! So my day of culture was a bit of a flop!

This is the centre and you can see all the kids sat on the ground beneath the trees.

Yesterday was also cultural but of another kind! I went to eh IMAX cinema in the Siam Centre in Bangkok to see the last Harry Potter movie in 3D. The 3D was fine but the glasses I had were not so good. Pity about the ending!! I was overawded by the size of the screen and the movie theatre in general.

Aranyaprathet to Bangkok

2011-08-15T17:44:00.000+02:00

Sunday morning je me suis levé tôt pour ne pas rater le bus pour Poi Pet. Je ne l'ai pas raté mais je pensais, en attendant une correspondance à Sisiphone que j'allais manqué le train. Passer la frontière n'était pas trop long malgré les files d'attentes. Etant pressé pour trouver un tuk-tuk je n'ai pas pris de photo et je m'en veux maintenant. En arrivant de l'autre côté, côté Thai, il n'y avait pas de tuk-tuk mais il y avait un gars, qui m'a demandé 20 baht de commission et le course ne coûtait que 80 baht. En fin de compte je suis arrivé à la gare avec 2 heures d'avance. Je voulais prendre mon billet pour le train et m'installer mais le guichet était fermé, malgré tout le personnel!!

Nous sommes partis à l'heure et toutes les sièges étaient remplies. Petit à petit, le train a pris du monde! Plus de places assises donc il y avait les gens qui ont passé presque les 6 heures du trajet debout. Maintenant je comprends la raison pour laquelle la place ne coûte que 48 baht!!

The man on the right didn't get a seat till 30 mins before Hua Lamphong. Je ne prendrai plus jamais ce train un dimanche!!!!

Battambang

2011-08-11T19:41:00.000+02:00

It is the rainy season at the moment so I suppose everyone expects some rain and most days there is rain. Today I thought, into the afternoon, that perhaps we were going to have a calms day although while having lunch in the roof-top restaurant at the Royal Hotel the wind did get up and there were some splashes of rain.

For the past few days I have been spending my time at the local pool, which is in fact part of a private club. On arriving today I noticed that there were a lot of people beavering around. Tables had been laid out, chairs covered and an enormous sound system installed. Why, thought I, was all this being done. I found out later from the pool swimming coach, that it was to celebrate the birth of a child. Unfortunately the weather turned and before the afternoon was out all of the tables had been taken inside.

If you ever think of coming to Cambodia, just let me tell you that there is plenty to do and see here in Battambang and apparently you will be able to take a train from the border to Battambang in 2013!

Ads mean food

2011-08-11T08:47:00.000+02:00

I've just added ads to my blog, not of course that it will make much money as I do not think that many people come to my blog. I wonder why not! Perhaps I do not put in the right key (tag) words, but it would be great if people would click on the ads as I am going to give this money to the Global Student Outreach NGO here in Battambang.

If you want to find out more about it go to Global Student Outreach or their facebook page.

Toujours à Battambang

2011-08-10T08:40:00.000+02:00

Toujours à Battambang et toujours le net est lent! Hier j'ai découvert la piscine et celle-ci aussi bien que ma chambre bon marché m'a incité de rester sur place encore quelques jours.

Hier le copain américain de Nhean s'est acheté un Pajero, une grosse voiture, pour transporter les étudiants lors qu'ils arrivent. Il m'a proposé d'aller à Phnom Pehn mais je me demande n'est plus un moyen que je paie sa visite pour aller chercher un visa pour l'Australie. Je n'arrive pas le cerner, est-il vraiment impliquer dans le OGM, veut-il vraiment aider les gamins ici ou est-ce qu'une ruse pour toucher de l'argent facile? Question difficile!! Je ne suis pas certain que je vais y aller car avec la piscine, la vie est belle.

Tous les jours je découvre un peu plus de cette ville.

Sign out...

Losing posts

2011-08-10T08:39:00.002+02:00

I do so hate it when you write something and then you lose it due to the speed on the net!

London The Novel by Edward Rutherfurd

2011-08-08T07:04:00.000+02:00

If you are looking for a good read and also looking to find out something about London this is a good book. It is a fictional historic novel!

Contacts

2011-08-07T18:26:00.000+02:00

You go to the other side of the world and in fact nobody cares very much about you. I realise this more and more that unless you are really 'there' you are just a sort of floating idea. OK, that is all I wanted to ay.

Tu pars à l'autre bout du monde et en fait tout le monde s'en fiche de toi. Je me le rends compte de plues en plus. Si tu nes pas sur plac, tu n''xiscte pas.

Battambang to Pailin

2011-08-07T05:53:00.000+02:00

Yesterday we went out on a sort of family outing. Nhean came around with a car a friend of his had lent/rented him and we all set out for Pailin, to see the border and the falls.

The journey is not to long but just as we were going out of Battambang there were police checks. We weren't checked and Nhean said this was only because they saw a European in the car.

The landscapes are typically asian, flat with hills for no reason. Were I in the north of England, I would know that these hills are drumlins and were created by the ice over the country during the Ice Age, but here, I am not sure that there was any ice, I really should find out.

On our arrival at the border we saw a new town growing. The Thais cannot gamble in Thailand, so there are casinos in the border towns in Cambodia. It was Saturday morning so everyone was either in bed or had not arrived. We went for a drink in a café in a shop and there was a ballpark, slide play area so the kids went and had a play for a good hour.

They seemed to have a good time and so did Nhean and Berang who enjoyed watching the children play. Following our stop here we went into Pailin and had something to eat in a local eating place, I am not sure I could really call it a restaurant! But, where can you get a meal for 5 with drinks and all for $5?

Nhean had been up to this area before with tourists and had seen people looking for gems so he took us to see this but unfortunately there is no longer anything to see so we made our way to the waterfalls with just a little blip - the car overheated and stopped. So we waited and then went on our way.

OK I have seen more awe inspiring falls in Europe but it was good to feel the fresh spray to to be able to have a short dip in the waters.

And I had a dip too!

On he way back the kids had an ice-cream and were really well behaved.

On getting back to Battambang we dropped Berang and the children off at home and just in time as 5 minutes later the heavens opened up and it RAINED! What can you do at times like these other than park up and go for a drink, so that is what Nhean and I did!