Tired but alive

Posted on September 18, 2013 by Guthlac
The Night Watchman by Rembrandt is the star turn at the Rijks museum but I think the crowds are missing a trick. Buried nearby in the labyrinth of rooms is the wonderfully titled Banquet of the Crossbowman’s guild in celebration of the signing of the Treaty of Munster by van der Helst. I really don’t think I’ve seen a funnier and more human painting in my life. Whilst the more famous Rembrandt had people standing six deep the van der Helst is poorly attended to with most people just passing by. This is a real shame because if it is a true representation of the guild of crossbow men then they were a real bunch of characters – all of life was present in that one painting and it didn’t matter that this depicted a group of men from 400 years ago they were as a live now as they had been when they sat for the painting.

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The night watch

Posted on September 18, 2013 by Guthlac

A new and wonderful photo app Tiny Plants allowed me to make this image

Simon Marchini
http://www.simonmarchini.co.uk

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Do I want whipped creme with that?

Posted on September 18, 2013 by Guthlac

What a wonderful place the Rijks Museum is ….the staff are even better… We’ve just spent the morning wondering through Dutch art of the 17th century and now it is time for a cool drink and a nice piece if cake. As the waitress asked…”do you want whipped cream with that?…

I laughed….I didn’t get to where I am today without whipped cream.

Simon Marchini
http://www.simonmarchini.co.uk

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Day two and lets start with a moan

Posted on September 18, 2013 by Guthlac
The hotel is great, the place is great but the thing that is really getting my goat is the new update to Photoshop express app. It is useless. The old one you felt that you had some control over what you were doing – this one has been dumbed down to almost ridicules proportions. I’m not impressed.

So today we can really start to explore Amsterdam…let the fun begin.

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iPhone 5S: has Apple given up on innovation?

Posted on September 17, 2013 by Guthlac

iPhone 5S: has Apple given up on innovation?
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/16/iphone5s-apple-given-up-innovation

I’m really not sure I agree with this article. When I look around the smartphone market I don’t see any real innovation at all but rather consolidation. But this misses the point. The innovation on the modern smart phone doesn’t come from the machine but rather the software. Yes it is nice to have a chip that runs just a bit quicker and a bit more memory etc but it is the cutting edge apps that make all the difference.

I’m really not sure the many critics of Apple think innovation looks like. We hear about Jobs and the iPod/phone/pad great leap forward and yes they broke the mould of what came before. I feel that to break the mould again would destroy much of what the Apple system has become. This is the same for the Android system.

Perhaps in time we will see some radical change but not in the near future…and that would have been the same if Jobs was head…although he wouldn’t have let you think that.

—
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Simon Marchini
www.simonmarchini.co.uk

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Red light district and all things Amsterdam

Posted on September 17, 2013 by Guthlac
Well we’ve arrived and decided to walk to the hotel which was a great way to get your bearings in Amsterdam which, it turns out, is really very compact. We got to the hotel a bit early so left our bags and went a walk around the area which again was very useful. We also waded through part of the red light district so that at least we can we did it. The overriding effect the area had on me was more of a meat market than anything sexual. However, Im sure it does some thing for a lot of people and I do hope the girls make a good living – I’m sure there may be many boys plying their trade but they are not on immediate display.

So we’ve done the touristy bit and so can settle down to some serious exploration of Amsterdam tomorrow hopefully as far away from the honeypots as possible.

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Boo Thalys

Posted on September 17, 2013 by Guthlac
So the Internet works well on the train to Amsterdam but it is big thumbs down for the food. They have no gluten free option – which Eurostar did. They really do need to up their game. However apart from this rather large black mark against the rail company everything else is really rather good on the train – the staff are friendly and very helpful and the ride is very smooth – much better than the Eurostar to Brussels. Overall a good service, that is unless you have to have a gluten free diet.

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Premier Inn

Posted on September 16, 2013 by Guthlac
So we’ve arrived at our first stop of the night and I’ve found an error in the Premier Inn Wifi offering. You are only allowed only two connections to the wifi at any one time! I mean only two!?? What sort of crazy Stalinist world is this? How can anyone cope with only two – after all I have iPads and iPhone to connect – so has my wife – such an outrageous situation …I’m sure it’s infringing my human rights. It must be political correctness gone made! (I need to get a life)

Anyway, back in the real world the hotel room is fine as was the drive down, apart from the M1 being closed for a serious RTA or is that RTC – old habits die hard which probably added about 45 minutes to the journey but did mean we had a lovely drive through the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire countryside rather than ploughing along the M1 and M25 to South Mimms services.

Canterbury was incredibly touristy but it was ever thus – otherwise what would Chaucer be famous for. The Cathedral was what you would expect it to be but the highlights of the vista were none of these. The first was the Cafe Rouge where they were very helpful with their Gluten free selection – plus free wifi – I think life is more than whether I can connect to the Internet – I really should get out much more often.

However, the star of the visit to Canterbury was Chromos art shop. This is a al art supply shop with such a wonderful stock on display…I was in heaven especially with so many of these traditional art shops closing down or seriously reducing their stock in the shop in favour of the Internet. If you are an artist and you happen to be I
In the east Kent area this is a must place to visit. They do have a web site at http://www.chromosart.co.uk and when I get home I’m going to see what things they have and hopefully use them.

So all round a good day and now we’ll be having an evening meal at the local restaurant which again seems to have a good gluten free selection so lets hope it is a success. After this it will be off to bed as we have an early start in the morning.

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Clearing out the garbage

Posted on September 15, 2013 by Guthlac

From time to time I try and clear out some of the rubbish that I have accumulated on my iPhone.   This usually consists of images I’ve captured that I’ve  forgotten to delete because they are either rubbish or have have already been uploaded to Dropbox.  It is a somewhat cathartic pastime and appeals to me anal control freak side.

- 0001

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Amongst the images that I’ve deleted are these are made the other day when I visited around the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and the Hepworth.

The YSP Hare - 0003 - 0006 - 0005

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Old man

Posted on September 15, 2013 by Guthlac
The slow march towards decline is something that none of us starting that journey really want to face up to. We all proclaim that on the inside we still feel 18 years old yet every time we look in the mirror an older and older face looks back. One day that face will be no more and we suddenly realise all the things that we are going to miss or regret never having done in the first place. “….Old man take a look at my life it’s a lot like yours….” as the song went.

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