Get Up, Sit Down, Sit Down for your Rights.

6 buses 3 appointments 2 hospitals and a partridge in a pear tree. I left Ealing on my second bus of the day at 10 to get to my hospital appointment in Finchley at 11:40 which given the predicted 42 minute journey should have been easy. Bad news 11:50 I finally arrived at Finchley. Good news the hospital had cancelled whilst I was en route. But appointments s 2 and 3 in Barnet were dependent on that 1st appointment. I regrouped in a cafe planning to call Barnet hospital but efficiently they rang me and offered to fit me in at Barnet prior to my other two appointments. Yippee. Leapt on bus number 3 only for the driver to refuse my bus pass. Determined I went and sat down and I thought he had given in when he resumed the journey. However next stop the inspector he had called to sort me out got on. Some negotiations later I was allowed to resume my journey having explained that my bus pass never works in London and I had discussed it with both London transport and the issuer but no one had resolved the matter. Luckily I just about got to Barnet in time had my new 1st appointment then my 2nd and then went up for my third. This was the only appointment that I hadn't had a reminder for or a letter about as it had been organised over the phone but I presented myself confidently only to be told the appointment was in Enfield! Had I known this earlier I could have got there, but I have no record at all that the appointment was for a third hospital!. Three buses later luckily all unchallenged I got home! Strange day and I will have to over this all over again at some point both for my 3rd appointment and the two follow ups hopefully after that I will be liberated but having several hospitals in a group practice all a couple of hours away is always going to be a bit of an issue. Get Up Stand Up the musical, which I saw over the weekend, was a lovely introduction to Bob Marley's life and the reinterpretation of his music really brought out the significance of the words, but whilst what was going on on stage was very entertaining, I was also amused and puzzled by the presence of so many ushers up in the Gods, very actively policing at times, missing the person climbing over seats though to get to the loo and missing the camera work taking place a floor down in the upper circle.

Good weather, good food, good company and very few gripes.

Just over a week in Croatia. Time to sit, time to enjoy the sun, share food, wa>tch movies, work a litte. Time to revisit Split and Trogir and then time to go again, but this time up north to Zagreb, which is a lovely city, but finding a couple of nasty bity things in the room in the hostel, not so good. (1) But even more reason to go out, enjoy the mix of old buildings many with a art nouveau feel to them, but also a bit of grime as they are covered in grafitti and losing their decoration. At times I was reminded of Prague, other times other memories sparked up by a turn in the road, or patch of grass so whilst Zagreb is its own unique self something about it also brought up happy thoughts of other travels. My first day there the weather was lovely so I was happy to potter, the second day, rain was forecast and arrived as scheduled so I headed off to the Tesla musuem, which I can recommend, especially to engineers or people who like machines. I know I will return to Zagreb, so I mostly sat in the sun and pottered when I could, and look forward to discovering more of it on another visit. I then travelled overland to Germany. Breakfast before I left, coffee in Slovenia, afternoon tea in Austria and after being stopped by the side of the road by the German authorities checking all our passports, a light supper in Munich in my hotel room. Interestingly both hotels in Germany the single room was just that a single room. Crazy prices, but no worse than the UK, and it was a good place, just out of the centre. With one day only in Munich the sensible thing to do was to leave the programme in the hands of one my long standing students Monika, who introduced me to the fabulous breakfasts at the Glockenspiel Cafe, (gripe number two be aware the waiter might think your change is the tip, so have a more expensive breakfast and give the waiter the correct money and any tip you want to give not the 4 euro 50 I unintentionally gave. Note to MoD, I know let it go :)) We also visited the fabulous market nearby where German comedians feature. By this time Monika was laughing at my attemtps to take pictures, so the shot here was by her. And we just pottered really. It turned out that Munich, which is really nice and interesting, was hosting the NFL event that weekend, so it was heaving with people, so I was glad to have a local with me to propel us through the grounds and manage a cup of tea when flagging. Prices in the centre for tea are high but head out to Harras and you can get a great Vietnamese meal for a very reasonable 9 euro whilst catching up with a friend from England who was also going on the Englishausen programme for 6 days just outside Munich.

I was very worried prior to heading out to Germany that I would have the energy either to travel or do the volunteer English programme, but having a week to relax first, then time in Zagreb to feel the pleasure of change and then to have a really well run programme with really interesting people made for a really good time in Germany. My camera is shot, so my pictures are terrible and I wanted to focus on the people, but four came from America, one from South Africa along with two other English people and the Germans were as per usual absolutely lovely. The food amazing - first time I have tasted boar. I can recommend it, but also lovely veggie options were available too.

I completed the week by flying back from Memmingen which is a small airport, and perhaps not quite up to the numbers of people using it, but the town is defintely worth seeing. So, whilst one can get to the airport by Munich by coach, I suggest a night at the joe sepps hotel and time to absorb the lovely buildings showing the diverse and sometimes dark religous background of the town. It used to have a synagogue, but no more and is a place where the Catholic domination was challenged by the Lutherans. It also has a few storks and what greater joy is there than to see these great big birds fly and land. Just be aware if you are using the machine in the station to buy your bus ticket, you can put 20 euros in but will only get change for a 10 euro note, but other than that it is great!