It’s St David’s Day and I am pleased to announce that the first daffodils of the year are out in the garden. Loads more threatening to bloom but not quite there yet. It’s also a fine day so we may see more before day is out.

This morning, it being a nice day and having no jobs list I went for a stroll into Lincoln’s Bailgate. It’s my custom and practice on occasion to record videos which I normally only share with the family. I do this once the vid is uploaded to Google+.

This morning I recorded one such video in front of the Cathedral in Lincoln and then went to the @BookStopCafe for a cuppa. As I was sat there relaxing to Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor (a particular fave of mine) and a pot of lemon tea the video uploaded to Goole+ over the caff’s WiFi.

Occurs to me that they don’t need many customers to be doing this to rack up big bandwidth usage. My 26 second video will have been a few tens of megs.  It won’t take long for cafes to need unlimited data bundles on their broadband connections. I’d like to bet that most such establishments  currently go for a low end package to save on costs.

The changing business landscape…

PS it wasn’t the Farmer’s Market. It was a craft market which for me doesn’t hold as much interest:)

I have total editorial control over this blog. What I say goes ok? Below is a nice picture of some flowers – crocuses (croci) seen growing in the gardens near the Embankment tube station this morning. Nice eh?

If any readers have nice photos of flowers they would like to share please let me know. Spring is in the air:)

I’m a big softie really. Innit?

More lovely phlower fotos inc a ladybird here.

Last night I walked up steep hill and was sixty pounds lighter by the time I go to the top. Another exciting episode in the life of Trefor  Davies.

Yesterday morning I walked to work and passed the Harlequin Antiquarian Bookshop as I went down Steep Hill. I’ve been meaning to go in there because I found that when Reader’s Rest closed the Oxford History books that I had been meaning to go in and buy but hadn’t got round to it had been passed up the road to the Harlequin. The shop didn’t open until 11am (why would you) but I noted the closing time of 5 – 5.30 (ish).

Up until yesterday my collection of Oxford History of England books had looked like this:

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. I present here a picture of what I had for breakfast this morning.

Silva’s, Shaftesbury Avenue. Nuff said.

Read all about how to cook breakfast using a George Foreman Grill here.

During my last fad of running, three years ago, it would have been incomprehensible to have gone for a run without putting on my trainers, shorts, special underwear and lucky T- Shirt – without the addition of a small electronic music player and some headphones.

For some, the generic Mp3 player is there to focus the mind and to exclude the inevitable pain, contributing greatly to the mind over matter approach required to complete a long distance run.

For me, it was used primarily to combat boredom, just as my Walk-man did on my paper round as a teenager. Thankfully technology has improved and I don’t need a pencil to rewind my cassette of Depeche Mode’s ‘Singles 81 – 85’. Talking of which, I seem to remember Philip Schofield on Saturday morning TV’s ‘Going Live’ pulling an April Fool trick on us. He suggested that in the future we’d be able to have a little stick like machine that you could speak into and it would play out the required song from a memory bank of thousands. Some on the internet even believe that Schofield is the inventor of such devices, I’ve seen more ridiculous conspiracies, although I do believe that the the April Fool is now on him.

Running with entertainment can

Took the Docklands Light Railway from Bank to London City Airport. Used the DLR many times before to go to Telecity but this may have been my first time on the Woolwich Arsenal branch.

It’s also the first time I’ve ever given any thought to the area. Boy is it bleak. We are talking New York tenement type scenes. I may be exaggerating a little but I don’t think so. That’s how it felt. Blocks and blocks of flats with long external corridors open to the elements. Limehouse basin with its expensive yachts seemed to be a little haven amongst all the red brick and concrete.

Taking off on a grey day from London City Airport the view seemed to highlight the wasteland nature of the area. Large industrial plots with expanses of nothingness. Sewage works. Scrapyards. Dumps. Weeds.

I could visualise conditions on the ground. Not a place for strangers. You need to be streetwise. The police don’t get out of their squad cars. Psst wanna buy

It’s Friday, it’s Valentine’s Day and I’m on the way to the Isle of Man for the weekend before landing back for the LINX meeting on Monday.

There is no chef on this train so breakfast is a mere croissant and a bacon bap – the staff have striven valiantly to make up for the absence of the temperamental cook. I have visions of him flinging knives across the train galley  and storming off complaining about how can an artiste be expected to create magnificent dishes in such conditions. All I wanted was a Full English but hey… I expect he will be happier back at the Savoy.

Because the weekend is coming up hard on the rails I have permitted myself the luxury of

Slept for much of the flight back from the weekend in Lisboa. Certainly for most of Welcome to the Pleasuredome. Not a reflection on Frankie Goes To Hollywood of whom I am enough of a fan to carry their music around on my dog and bone.

Lisbon to London is only 3 hours or so – not a bad length of flight. I do know many in the networking game who regularly do long haul, in their pursuit of tier points and status. For such trips – SFO/LHR etc – a survival strategy is required.

Mine was always to get a skinfull in before boarding and I would then sleep the whole flight. On one occasion whilst travelling with someone who had been upgraded to First Class coming back from Seattle he and I settled in to the First Class Lounge before the flight. I polished off a bottle of posh champagne but he drank only mineral water, saving himself for the on-board treats to come.

Lisbon farewell.  It was great to see you. Very hospitable were you if somewhat cold but it being February I offer no complaints.

The brandy and the port kept me warm. Your generous portions were gratefully received. The tapas was good. The historic sights of the city were enjoyable, I climbed the castle ramparts and pictured Magellan, Vasgo de Gama and other intrepid Portugese of earlier times setting out on their voyages into the unknown.

As I leave the city, I thad my first experience of the splendid Portugese tart. A delicious custard concoction which made me wonder why on earth I had left it until the BA business class lounge to try one.

This was my first trip to Portugal but do have a Portugese story from my younger days.

When I was 19 I hitchhiked to Greece. It was a great adventure. Not in the league of Vasco de Gama but exciting nevertheless. There came a time, as I was sat in a bar on the beach one night, that  I needed