Just to prove it's not all work and no play

Saturday night in Salzburg...

at a great bar opposite the künstlerhaus (art house)

that's our Jacqueline on drums!

and yours truly clanging heads with Lucia on the dancefloor!
.

The leadership of the nation

I've voted! It's in the post.

When I left I was quite pleased to be leaving behind all the palaver that comes from the pollies and from the media in the weeks before the election. But, strangely, I've been missing it! I've downloaded the missing bit on my computer so I can now listen to 774 live... And all I get is Ben Bloody Cousins!

When in Germany...

...Buy German!

2 pairs for 50 Euro (where do I find the symbol for Euro like $ for dollar? anyone?)

That's about $70
.

Meme

Bogan. I love you.

But I've already done it. Over here

colours of Rome

Just for a bit of a cheer up after the last couple of posts...















Those are all from the Campo di Fiori. And this one was sighted in the street where the Best Gelato Shop In The World resides. Can't tell you where, it's a secret (actually, I don't think I could ever find it again).

sorry for another non-jewellery post...

...but I keep finding other interesting stuff out there that I want to share.

As a result of the "troubles" in Tallinn (this is what the situation seems to have been coloquially termed in English), The Estonian police have set up a website where you can go and identify people in photos taken of the riots. It smacks of 'dob in an garden waterer' to me but it's worth a visit, if only to see the extent of the vandalism and looting. Here are a few images that caught my eye...



This one's interesting because of this photo...



which I took a few days after the riots.

and these two just tickled my fancy!



Yo! Homey!




mum said 'get size 14', these are only a 12
.

Meme-mia

I've been tagged by Florence over at Windbag and Thunder and if you've got some thoughts about the nature of contemporary folk art, go on over and have your say.

So, the rules of the meme are...

"Start with 7 random facts/habits about yourself
People who are tagged have to write their 7 things on their blog
Then choose another 7 people to get tagged and list their names
Don't forget to leave them a comment to tell them they
have been tagged and to read your blog"

So here goes:

1. I like asking questions. Sometimes I ask too many questions. I prefer asking questions to answering them.

2. I like wikipedia. I know it has its faults but I still like it. I like what it told me about memes when I went there to look up what they were. I loved Richard Dawkin's book "The Selfish Gene" when I read it in my early 20's. And I love that meme-ologists believe that memes mutate and evolve via natural selection.

3. Whoops! look at that. One of my meme chromosomes didn't replicate properly and it's telling me to ask a question rather than tell you a random fact about myself.

4. Does anyone think that Cate Blanchett ever has doubts about the choices she's made in life?

5. And here's another one... How long do we have to wait for humans to evolve into more altruistic beings?

6. And another... Can someone tell Richard Tognetti that I'm available now that he's split from his wife?

7. And finally, this meme stops here. Sorry Florence but the only people I know to tag have already been tagged!

.

glaziers delight!

I'm back in Tallinn. And this is what my local neighbourhood looks like...








The vandalism is widespread and apparently indiscriminate. Obviously the rioters targeted 'convenience stores' to get alcohol, but anything at street level was fair game.

I flew in quite late and the streets were very quiet. My taxi driver told me that it was 'witches night', which was normally a big excuse for public revelry in Estonia but the only people I saw on the streets were the police.

The original protests were sparked by the removal of the statue of the Bronze Soldier by the Estonian government. The statue had been erected by the soviets to commemorate the Russian soldiers who died during the war with Nazi Germany. As it turns out, the anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany, which is a big celebration where Russian-Estonians would normally gather and lay flowers at the statue, just happens to be next Wednesday. We're being advised to stay indoors.

.

Yikes! Riots!

It's strange how news from Estonia rarely gets published outside of Estonia. But, just in case you're somehow in the loop and are worried about me because you've heard about this, do not fear. I am in Rome.

Big catch up next week on my return.

WARNING! - non jewellery post following

Yesterday I discovered Stockmann. It's a huge (by Tallinn standards) department store. It's kind of like Target but better quality. Or perhaps more like Myer but cheaper.



Right now they have a big sale on and so there's stuff everywhere and lots of yellow plastic sheeting!



And of course there are lots of people too



which leads me to the point of this post.

I don't seem to be able to negotiate being a pedestrian in Tallinn. I am always conscious of walking on the right side of the footpath (which still feels alien) but I seem to have to dodge people all the time. I don't seem to be able to 'weave' smoothly and I'm constantly being bumped by people . Maybe this is how things happen here? Anyway, it's bad on the footpath so it's even worse in shops, particularly department stores and more particularly department stores with sales.

You can see from the above photos that there aren't that many people there, no more than Myer on a Friday night or Flinders Lane at lunchtime, and the aisles are of a reasonable size but at each step I was thwarted from a smooth passage by people just standing, people walking 4 abreast or people walking and suddenly stopping or turning. The thing is that this happens in Myer too but I can't seem to avoid it here like I can there.

It also seems that pedestrians have very few rights here. When crossing a side road at the entrance to a main road, it seems that cars will not stop for you, even if you've already started to cross before they appear. Parking on footpaths is mandatory and when a car is driving along the footpath (as happened to me yesterday) they don't have to drive slowly and pedestrians have to give way to them!

I just needed to get that off my chest.