I’ve just received a message, in Swedish, from Skim Kayaks stating that they’re suspending production and sales because they’re having problems making ends meet economically. Its sad because the boats are fantastic. I have paddled a Skim Distance around Sardinia, and will take it around Sicily in March, and I have recently bought a Skim […]
Yesterday I was paddling around Venice with a German couple and their daughter. The girl was almost mesmerised by the crabs scuttling around on the walls and steps on the rii, so daddy picked one up to show her, then put it down on the kayak so it could get on with its life. I […]
“It’s you. It’s you”
They’re restoring the back side of the Palazzo Ducale and the corresponding side of the Prigioni Nove, both facing the Rio Canonica. The Bridge of Sighs connect these two buildings across the canal. To get funds for the restauration works they have sold advertising rights to the façades being restored, and the sponsor have clad […]
Most mooring places in Venice are given in concession to private or commercial users by the Magistrato delle Acque, the magistrate of the waters, and they’re not supposed to be used by any others. This is not always respected, and the concessionary of this space have had enough of free riders. The sign reads: “Don’t […]
Houses are close to each other in Venice, and apartments often a bit dark because of the narrow streets. Here’s the view from my bedroom. The salizada below is even rather wide compared to many calli around the city. (view out, view left, view right)
I have a quite decent camera in my mobile phone, and often take photos where I go, but I also often forget to download them to the computer. I did that today, and here’s a selection of point-and-shoot photos from we left Denmark in early April until now here in Venice. The phots are in […]
On Annunciation Day in AD 421, on the 25th of March, three Roman tribunes from the nearby Roman city of Padova participated in the consecration of the St. Giacometo church at Rivus Altus in the Venetian lagoon, thus formally founding the city of Venice. In the years that followed the Roman Empire broke down and […]
So, now we have signed up for the symposium in Spain – the III Symposium Internacional de Kayak de Mar – held in Llança/Port de la Selva in Catalonia on April 4-5-6 followed by additional activities in the following week, until April 12. We’ll be going to Spain by motorcycle through Germany and France and […]
My mothers maiden name is Wils. The name is of Dutch origin, and I’m the descendent of a poor Dutch immigrant to Denmark in the early 19th century.
I got a very nice email yesterday, from a PR represetative of Panasonic Nordic, with an offer of lending me a Lumix DMC-FT1 (TS1 in the USA) camera as soon as they get the first test cameras to the country in late March. The deal is that I will test the camera in real life […]
When my uncle died last year, Valentina and I were offered the old wine glasses my uncle had inherited from my grandmother. They have been in the family since long before I was born, and my guess is that they were bought in the 1930s or 1940s. They’re handmade, blown, faceted with an hexagonal stalk, […]
Like this one – it looks normal – but apparently isn’t. It does help a bit with the discount. Amazon.com: BlackWind: Charlotte Boyett-Compo: Books
Occasionally there’s something funny on Google Street View, occasionally something scary:
Yesterday I practised rolling in a pool for the first time in over two years. Its the first time for a long while I get some good rolling practise. My focus has been elsewhere, on touring in Sardinia, setting up a business in Venice, getting to know people and places in Venice, in general with […]
A few weeks ago it was the season of looking back, and being a bit slow on the uptake, I’m just about arriving there now. These last two years have seen quite a turn in my life. Two years ago I had a day job, a fairly ‘normal’ life, and just paddled for fun, and […]
I played a bit with Typealizer which I found at Bonnie’s blog, who had it from Michael Bradley, only the result is a bit ambiguous. I ran the test on the two sites I put the most effort into, and got rather different results.
This is so weird, some would probably say disturbing, but nature is a weird and sometimes disturbing place. On 5 June 1995 an adult male mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) collided with the glass façade of the Natuurhistorisch Museum Rotterdam and died. An other drake mallard raped the corpse almost continuously for 75 minutes. (source: “the duck” […]
The armistice which became the end to the Great War, the first world war, took effect at 11:11 o’clock on November 11, 1918, exact 90 years ago today. It was the most horrible war the world had ever seen, with carnage on an industrial scale, taking tens of millions of lifes over a period of […]