And the winner is .....

I don't often win anything. Though I often come close.

I guess it started at school. In my final year at primary school I got the 'Proxime Accessit' medal. (not sure if the spelling is correct). This is for the person coming second. The winner was, of course, the 'Dux'.

At age 16 I took up ski-ing and entered the North of Scotland Novices Cup. I came second, 0.3 seconds behind the winner - and 10 seconds ahead of the person who came third.

In 2002 I went to Sydney to represent Britain at golf in the Gay Games. I came 4th on countback and therefore just missed a medal.

I tried again at the 2007 Eurogames in Antwerp where I again I represented Britain at golf. This time I did win a medal, but it was silver. My playing partner won gold after sinking a 20 feet putt on the 18th hole to pip me by one shot.

Then, finally, on Thursday evening I won something. And it was entirely unexpected. It was our annual AGI awards dinner, taking place at the Royal Institute of Physicians. After dinner, the awards took place. Prizes were given for those who had submitted papers on a number of topics in the world of Geography. The final award of the night is the Past Chair's award. Given to someone who has contibuted to GIS and to the AGI in particular. The recipient does not know in advance that they have won. I was relaxing at our table when suddenly my name was announced as the winner. I was gobsmacked. And really chuffed.

BBC Alba

I am not exactly a techno geek. I have a bog-standard pay-as-you-go mobile phone. No Blackberry. No i-Phone. I don't have sat-nav. I have a notebook PC but rarely use it. My Outlook diary is held in about 3 different places, so I often have to scribble reminders on bits of paper.

And I don't subscribe to Sky or Virgin satellite TV.

However I did recently replace my 20-year-old television with a new set - a 37in LG with freesat. And suddenly I have a plethora of strange free channels. My favourite of these is BBC Alba.

Three reasons -

• The outside shots of the spectacular scenery in north-west Scotland shows off the picture quality of the new set.
• I enjoy the music programmes from such places as Stornoway, Ullapool or maybe Eden Court in Inverness.
• Live Scottish football.

So on Sunday I found myself watching the second half of the Challenge Cup final between Dundee and my beloved Inverness Caley-Thistle live from Perth. Just two small problems. The entire commentary was in Gaelic. And ICT were 2-0 ahead when I started watching and 3-2 down at the end of the match. Frustrating.

Back to Julie Fowlis live from Achiltibuie!

November

I hate November. I always have. It is wet, windy and dark. The days continue to get shorter. And there is a long winter to look forward to.

Accordingly I feel lethargic in November. I realise all the things I haven't done during the year and the people I haven't seen. But it is not a month which pushes me to suddenly do those things. And so I will once again have the same New Year resolutions as I had last year - and the year before.

Andrew is in Tenerife delivering a talk to the Tourist Board, so I have the weekend to myself. A great chance to get things done. Yet here I am, Saturday afternoon, and all I have managed is a trip to Sainsburys and a couple of hours on the internet. What's wrong with me? Where has the energy gone?

Change in Government

The present Labour government seems to be resignedly heading towards defeat in the General Election which will have to be called before May. There is no sense of purpose any more; not even a pride in their achievements. And there undoubtedly have been some significant achievements.

I am still a member of the Labour party, but since it is unlikely that I will vote for them I guess it is logical that I should cancel my subscription.

If only they had managed to change leader when they had the opportunity six months ago.

Mind you, the Tories are increasingly shambolic. Their new links to right-wing homophobic parties in Eastern Europe frightens me. I have no confidence in George Osborne as Chancellor. And the thought of Liam Fox, Eric Pickles etc. in positions of power is frankly scary.

I am likely to vote Lib Dem just because they have been right more often than the other two parties. And they have a moral purpose that the other lack. But no doubt my vote will be a wasted one. It will not influence the result. The Tories will win. But at least I will be able to say -'Not my fault, Guv.'

It is just a pity that politics has become a decision between the lesser of evils rather than a potive statement about Britain's future.

Malaga on a Sunday

Whilst walking around Malaga on Sunday last week, I took some footage on my flip video starting early in the morning and finishing in the late evening. It is a bit longer than I had meant it to be, but anyway here it is -

Back in UK

We returned yesterday from our 10 days in Malaga and on a cruise. It was a good relaxing break and the cruise was interesting - though not an experience I want to rush back into. Anyway no doubt I will have photos and videos to post in due course.

Age profile in Malaga

The is a curious dynamic about Malaga, espcially on Sundays and holidays. It is an age-based one. This morning I headed for the beach at about 10am. It is Columbus day - a holiday in Spain. So Malaga was relatively quiet. But the cafes were open for business and they were quite busy.

Then I noticed a curious phenomenon. There was no-one in the cafes, or on the streets, under the age of about 60. It was as though Malaga had suddenly become a gated community for the retired.

Yet last night when I walked around there was hardly anyone over the age of 30 in the bars and cafes. Malaga seems like a different city in the mornings and in the evenings.

As for those between the ages of 30 and 60, what do they do? Sit at home and wait until they are 60 so that they can go out in the mornings?

What is happening I guess is this. The youngsters stay out late with their friends. Concequently they don´t get up until about mid-day. The oldies meanwhile go to bed earlier and get up earlier. So the morning streets are full of oldies and the nighttime streets are full of youngsters.

It happens everywhere I suppose. It just seems to be more obvious in Malaga on a holiday.

Anyway I continued down to the beach and set up beside the oldies. At least it was quiet. And somehow I felt I belonged there. Which proves, I suppose, that I am an oldie.

Voy a Malaga

I've had a bit of a introspective few months. Busy but not always making good use of my time. Not getting the correct balance between work, rest and play.

So I plan to use my time in Malaga to relax and also to get myself more in balance ready for the autumn. I hope to return refreshed and invigorated. Ready to be more pro-active during the rest of the year.

And I intend to enjoy my time in Malaga and especially our 5 days on the cruise to Tenerife and Madeira.

Time to go.

Hobbling around

I played tennis on Sunday. I was fine until I bent down to pick up a ball. Ouch! Something went in my lower back. And here I am four days later, still in agony and still hobbling around. Getting out of bed in the morning is excruciating. And putting on underwear is almost impossible. On Saturday I head for Spain - not sure how I will cope with Easyjet when I am feeling like this. But I am looking forward to getting the warm sun on my back.

Back from Gran Canaria

I had a really good few days in Gran Canaria. Some of the time was spent in visiting people or places on behalf of Andrew's travel company, Amro Worldwide. But I managed to relax, catch some sun, meet some interesting people and have some delicious food. I enjoyed staying at the Beach Boys Resort. Great place. Manel made us very welcome, as indeed did Nicky and Marcus. Thanks guys. As ever I took a short video -

Gran Canaria

Back from the AGI Geocommunity09 conference in Stratford-upon-Avon. Exhausted, but proud of what we achieved. I took this short video.





And tomorrow we head for Gran Canaria for a few days only to talk to appartment owners on behalf of Andrew's business, Amro Worldwide. I trust there will also be the opportunity to relax in the sun.

AGI Conference

We have our annual conference this week in Stratford-upon-Avon. Entitled 'Realising the Value of Place' it explores a huge range of topics in the world of Geography and GIS.

As last year, I have to run the quiz on the pre-conference Icebreaker evening. I also have to give the finance report at the AGM. I am, strangely, more nervous this year than I was last year. I'll be glad when the week is over.

Malaga Feria week

And so we are home now from Malaga and back to the routine in London. I enjoyed the break. Yes it was very hot and yes I didn't do as much as I should have done over there. But it is good to be in Malaga during their Feria week. The whole city comes alive and the visitor cannot help but be swept up in the enthusiasm that the locals feel for their city and their culture.

My final video of this series, is hopefully a small encapsulation of the sights and sounds of Feria Week in Malaga.

Malaga Feria Ground

The action at the Malaga Feria ground does not even start until after midnight. Long after my bedtime! But we did stay up one evening and headed out to the Feria ground on a packed bus around midnight. We didn't stay right through the early hours, but were there long enough to wander round. And of course I had the flip video camera with me.

El Chorro

After Torcal, we headed for the lakes just beyond El Chorro. This remains my favourite place in the whole of the area above Malaga. Swimming in the lakes was great. And of course, I took a short video.

El Torcal

Away from the Feria, we drove to the top of El Torcal, a mountain near Antequera. I love the view from the top.

Malaga day 1 - Feria opening fireworks

We returned to the UK today after our 10 days in Malaga. It was a good relaxing break, of which you will hear in the following few blogs. I'd like to have done more and been more active, but when the temperature is well over 30C during the day and 25C at night, the energy levels are not what I'd like them to be.

Our first evening in Malaga marked the start of Feria week. This started with fireworks on the beach at midnight and we headed down there. So here is a short film taken at the Malagueta Beach.

Back in Malaga

Today is the last full day of our 10-day stay in Malaga. The first few days were a bit frantic -we covered well over 1500 km. But now we have had a chance to relax and enjoy the Malaga feria week.

I would like to be doing more - but in this heat my energy levels are sapped and I need to just accept that. We have been getting up rather late, keeping out of the sun in the middle of the day, heading for the beach at about 5 pm, and generally eating and drinking rather more than is good for us.

I am gently turning brown and forgetting the worries of life. Let´s keep it that way for another day at least.

Lochnagar photos

I have put some photos of our Lochnagar climb here. And some below.

One of Scotland's top hill runners, Dario Malaragni, collaped and died on Lochnagar this week. A sad reminder that we must not push our bodies too hard. Thankfully we took the climb very slowly with a number of rest breaks. I was chuffed at getting to the top and a little bit emotional because of the place Lochnagar had within my family on my mother's side.

Lochnagar

Well, we did it. On Saturday, four of us climbed Lochnagar. It was tough, especially the climb up the boulder-strewn area to the left of the cliffs. On the way down, the steep path towards Loch Muick was not easy and the long final walk back along the shores of Loch Muick with tired legs seemed to take an age.

The weather was fantastic - we couldn't have selected a better day. Unbroken sunshine, light breeze, excellent visibility. I enjoyed the company - Colin and Gordon spurred Andrew and I onwards and upwards.

And so I fulfilled a pledge to myself to climb the mountain that my mother and father had both climbed, as had my grandparents and many members of the previous generation of my family, due to the fact that they lived in the shadow of the mountain. At the summit, I did allow myself some time to reflect on the fact that my mother had stood here as a teenager seeing the same view that I was seeing.

I will post some photos in due course. Meanwhile here is a short film I took during the ascent.

Lochnagar

We are heading off tomorrow, around 6 am for Scotland. We will visit Andrew's Uncle and Aunt in Perthshire, pick up my Dad in Keith and then stay in Ballater. On Saturday we are planning to climb Lochnagar.

My Mother was born at the foot of Lochnagar and climbed it many times as a teenager. When she died last year, and I realised that I had never done the climb. I was determined to do that before I got too old or decrepit.

The weather forecast is not good, so that my put the kybosh on the attempt. But if we do reach the summit, it will be emotional realising that I am seeing the view that my mother (and indeed my grandparents) saw on many occasions.

I'll report back here in due course.

London

Yesterday we went for a walk from Moorgate, via Spitalfields Market, Ledinhall Market, Monument, Southwark Cathedral, The Globe, Tate Modern and the South Bank Centre (where I used to work). I took the film shown below.

Afterwards we met some friends at the St Alban restaurant in Lower Regent Street which is rapidly becoming my favourite restaurant in London. The meal was excellent.

All in all, a good day.

Sow and Reap

Last summer, Amro Worldwide, our travel company, ran a series of adverts on the London underground. They were an attempt to reclain the phrase 'so gay' as a positive phrase whilst at the same time bringing our company to the attention of the gay community in London. We ran these ads in conjunction with 6 American states - 'California is So Gay' South Carolina is So Gay' etc.

And there the campaign would have ended. Except that Mark Sandford, the Governor of South Carolina, found out about the campaign, took exception to it, and demanded that the ads be removed. He sacked the employee of South Carolina Tourism with whom we had been working and ensured that we were not paid. He did this on grounds of morality.

Now, one year on, his own morality is laid bare for all to see. He has been having an affair in Argentina. He has a wife and four kids. And he may have to resign as Governor.

It serves him right for moralising at others. As ye sow so shall ye reap.

Dirt and Dust

In Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinajad had described the protesters as 'Khas o Khashak' which is translated as 'dirt and dust'. This arrogant put-down is now been taken up by the demonstrators and used for their own purposes. One of Tehran's newspapers has now described the situation as the 'Epic of Dirt and Dust.' One of Iran's top singers has asked that his songs are no longer broadcast because 'apparently my music is the music of dirt and dust'.

The phrase has backfired on Ahmandinajad. But I guess in the scheme of things, this will make no difference. I was in Teheran in 1979 when all the demonstrations against the Shah were taking place. I saw them on the television and witnessed some of them at first hand. I remember one day there was a demonstration outside our office in downtown Teheran. As was often the case, the people in the front of the demonstration were unarmed women wearing their black chadors. The Shah's troops arrived and set up a machine gun post on the flyover above the demonstrators. Through loud hailers they told the crowd to disperse. They didn't. The troops opened fire. Some of the women in the front line fall to the ground. The other women simply stood firm. More shots were fired. More women fell to the ground.

It was at that moment that I knew that the Iranian revolution was going to succeed. The people were simply too numerous and too dedicated to the cause to be beaten. I don't have the same feeling today, though. The Shah had very little support and was only being sustained through force. Ahmadinajad may not have majority support from the people, but he has sufficient support from some of the people combined with support from the ruling mullahs and, of course, from the supreme leader. I suspect that the protest is doomed to fail.

But Iran cannot go back to the way it was. The authority of Khameini has been damaged. The strength of the opposition is there for all to see. The young people of Iran will continue to demand freedom. And slowly, bit by bit, they will get that freedom.

The world is a global village, now more than ever. And ultimately it is that aspect of the world which will, in my view, topple dictatorships all over the world. Iran, North Korea, China. They cannot last forever. But blood will be spilt; brave men and women will die for the cause of freedom. And we should be grateful to them for their ultimate sacrifice. It's not just their freedom. It is our freedom too.

Genie in the Bottle

In 1978 I was living and working in Iran. The Shah was in power and any resistance to his regime was brutally suppressed by SAVAK, the secret police. Then he was forced by the West to relax some of the excesses of his regime. This allowed some protests to start, fuelled by the Ayatollah Khomeini from his base in Iraq and then in Paris.

When the Shah tried to stop the protests, he could not do this. The genie was out of the bottle. So the protests mounted and eventually in February 1979 the Iranian Revolution happened, the Shah was forced to flee and the Ayatollah returned. I was in Teheran during all of this time.

Now the same is happening again. The people were given limited freedom during the election campaign. When the result was announced and it turned out to be fraudulent, the regime assumed that they could carry on as before. But once again the freedom genie was out of the bottle and could not be put back in. So the protests have mounted and the regime does not know what to do.

Now of course I do not know how it will all end up. The power lies with the state and if they use this in a violent manner, no doubt they can defeat and terrorise the people into meek acceptance. But for how long? Once a people have tasted freedom, they remember that taste. And one day that freedom will come. Often many lives are lost in the gaining of the freedom. But remember, there is not enough darkness in the whole world to extinguish the flame of a candle.

My thoughts are with the brave demonstrators on the streets of Teheran and other Iranian cities. I hope they retain the courage of their convictions but also the sanity to remain true to their non-violent aspirations. They have my admiration. I am fearful but fascinated by what is happening. Keeping my fingers crossed for the democratic process in Iran is a feeble gesture.

But, at present, it is all I can do.

Alas, poor Gordon

On Thursday I went into the polling booth without a clear idea for whom I would vote. That has never happened to me before. I am a paid-up member of the Labour party and I have voted Labour in every recent election. So the dilemma should not have arisen.

But in the end I could not vote for the Labour candidate this time. I am so disappointed, not necessarily in the policies, but in the inability of the party, and the leader in particular, to communicate its ethos and achievements to the British public. Franky the current leadership are pathetic. And Gordon Brown, for all his intellect, simply lacks the rounded skills necessary for a Prime Minister.

So I voted for the Liberal Democrats. They have the right blend of economic and social policies. Their leader is persuasive, their Treasury Spokesman is calm and rational and their support of minority causes is admirable.

My vote made no difference of course. The Liberal Democrats did not make any advance. They remain as far away from government as ever. But by voting, and by giving serious consideration to who is deserving of my vote, I feel that I have earned the right to criticise those who I feel are worthy of criticism.

Now I expect more of all mainstream political parties. Partly this is to halt the growth of the far right. And partly this is to improve the level of political debate generally. So go to it.

Backyard Culture

It is strange, but very true, that it takes the visit of some faraway friends to prompt us to see what is in our local area.

Yesterday two very dear friends from South Beach in California came to visit us in Hitchin. Having joined English Heritage just a week ago, we decided to show them out three nearest properties, none of which we have ever visited. These were Houghton House near Ampthill, De Grey Mausoleum in Flitton and Wrest Park near Silsoe.

It was a really enjoyable day. The stark ruin of Houghton House, the inspiration for John Bunyan's 'House Beautiful', dominated the surrounding landscape, the Mausoleum of the De Grey family is a huge sepulchral chapel and the gardens at Wrest Park are vast and impressive.

We also had a great lunch in Ampthill and an excellent dinner in Hitchin to round off a varied and interesting day.

As ever, I took the flip video, and here is the result -

AGI GEOCOMMUNITY09

I have just come back from a very successful couple of days in Stratford upon Avon where we have been putting together the programme for the annual AGI Conference which will take place there in September.

It's been a bit like baking a cake. We had 120 ingredients in the form of submitted papers. We selected the best of these ingredients, decided on the order in which these should be used in the cake and on the layers of that cake. Then we looked at the overall look of the final product, akin to the icing on the cake. It looks good and will taste excellent. In other words we have a fantastic conference to look forward to.

I took some video shots but in the editing process I managed to inadvertently delete all the shots I took this morning of the River Avon and the swans. I am pissed off about that. In future I will save all clips before I try to edit them. So I am left with just a shell of the video of some of the moments during the process of discussing the content of the conference - and the food.

Here is a short extract.

Malaga Cathedral

The cathedral dominates the centre of Malaga, Here is a short film I took on Sunday in and around the cathedral.

Malaga

I have now returned to the UK from Malaga. Spent 30 minutes freezing cold at Finsbury Park station realising why I like Malaga so much.

I took a few videos on my flip. I am only just realising that it is best not to use the zoom and to keep the camera still. But anyway here is a view of the local beach in Malaga.

Malaga

We are spending a few days at our flat in the centre of Malaga. It is a chance to relax away from the stress of working life.

I had a great birthday on Wednesday spending a few hours on the Malagueta beach before heading for dinner at our favourite restaurant in Malaga, the Vino Mio. Helene was great, giving us free Cava before the meal and a free bottle of wine to take home. And the meal, as always, was fantastic.

I have managed a few hours on the beach every day, although there was quite a strong wind yesterday and today. And the rest of the time has been spent wandering round Malaga chilling out. I am feeling very calm.