Day 198 & 199

Happy New Year to all.

Day 196 & 197

I'm so bored ... writing the blog Thanks Kalle for the Lisbon photo. That will be it

Day 195

Thursday 27th of December

There are five days left and I'm considering to quit this blog after 200 days. There are not many stories to be told. Plans to revised for 2013.

Day 194

Festive season is reaching the end, and it has been fine, relaxing and enjoyable time. And what could be better way to finish the season but the late night Boxing day footy on the telly!  4 mins played and already 1-1 (Stoke Liverpool).

Most of us have been eating a great food, some of us -including me- too much. We had two short walks around the town today, but still at ten p.m. my stomach is begging me to stop eating no more. No mercy. Still some chocolate left in the box..

The front yard of the Church of Keski-Pori

... AND MORE FESTIVE FEELINGS by Morottaja

Day 193

!   Panorama from Suolijärvi Tampere by Kurittu !

 

 

 

 

 

 We want more photos around Finland and globe !

Send them to arminen66@gmail.com

 

 

Day 192

Thanks Kalle and Mikko. Keep sending photos, I'll do updates tomorrow and Wednesday also.

 

 Cemetary of Nakkila 24th Of December

Lisbon 24th of December

 

 

Merry X-mas.

Would be nice if you could send your X-mas photos to this blog where ever you are currently. We could all share the feelings of various places around x-mas festive.

Send photos to arminen66@gmail.com

Here's the picture of Pori (cemetery of Metsämaa) at 10.50 on 24th of December

 

 

 

Day 191

 

Nope, can't claim copyright for this master piece.. but will claim a nice piece of it tomorrow..



Day 190

A quick update: since 15th of June - that's over 6 months and 10 days short of my original plan- I haven't been even close to find a job. It's been kind of surprise as I expected a bit more. Makes me wonder if my strategy has been.. hmm.. let say "not the best kind of plan man can create". And I can't pretend not thinking various options how to continue. And even though I had a really good time with all activities and spare time I have had, I want to perform in my working life once again. It's about a time to move on, or it would be time...

X-mas is just in two days time and it's time to switch brains off and have relaxing time, so no more words about "work" (sorry V, I know you have working day tomorrow till 6pm and only after that the word have no meaning).

Day 189

The latest unemployment status of Satakunta. Increasing from last year, 11% in overall and around 13% in Pori. Not too encouraging.

And this young fellow could have some future as a singer one day ?

http://www.iltalehti.fi/iltvhullumaailma/20121220017138987_a6.shtml

Day 188

Not me flying, but friends arriving from Budapest for the X-mas.

Day 187

That's December temperature in Pori, years 2003-2011 (days 16-31).
Today it was -8.

Day 186

Some 17 years ago I used to write some codes using Pascal or C+ and I kind of enjoyed doing it.
Today I tried to do some "programming" by using functions and macros of Microsoft Excel. Damn it was hard; used all night and got only a couple of lousy actions done. Does anyone now any handy website for "Excel for Dummies" ?

Day 185

http://lounaassa.blogspot.fi/

We all could boycott the above blog: If they don't have any readers, then they wouldn't have anyone to tease and they might come back sooner to suffer with us; it's -19 on Saturday. U know what I mean ;)

Day 184

Entering the world of building an own enterprise is a challenge, which has never really hit me, but lately I have considered the option slightly. Having a excellent business idea is to start with. So far none occurred and seriously thought.

But what about having an own computer repair center? I'm sure I could success. Or what you think: On Friday I mentioned that my PC is fuc.. sorry, broken, and I question the graphics card. I had some time today to check, if the card is really broken by installing it to another PC. And it worked on that PC. So it sounded that something else is broken, maybe the mother board. That would be much more complicated to replace without replacing other parts also. Before jumping out to buy a new mother board I tested the "broken" PC,  with original setup, but with another display. And it worked. So it was the display, the monitor, which was broken? Apart that it wasn't. Nothing was broken. All machines are playing the tune of Windows 7 and 8. All what were needed a) take parts out b) give them fresh air for two days c) hover the dust and wola !

If that's not an easy way to earn some money then what is?
And I have another story to prove my case: That's fixing iPhones. I used to fix my son's iPhone quite a few times; and almost every time I fixed the problem by taking certain parts out, leaving them to the table for couple of days, scratching my head and putting peaces together again. Handy.

So, who's my first customer? Bring your PC here and pick it up after two days, meanwhile I'll have a coffee.

Day 183

They are gone now. Flew away. Why in earth anyone would like to change this

To this!

Some people are weird. Pori vs Lisbon. Do they have even electricity down there? Or Salmiakki or sausage. How come they could survive.

Day 182

My PC crashed today, it simply does not work. More likely it's graphics card which is broken but cant say for sure. And the model is media pc type, which means that it is not easy to find replacement card. Annoying! It is my main pc and really need it; tablet pc cant replace it. 

Not sure what to do, but need to do a decision soon. All my files, including CV are stuck in a hard disk. No uptodate backup available, ofcause not. Shit.

Day 181

19 days to go t have a job, if i follow the original plan. But i dont

Day 180

12.12.12

Did you get married today? I didn't. Did your world ends today? Mine didn't.

Instead I swam, had a lunch out, did x-mas shopping, visited couple of coffee houses; basically we had a relaxing day out, even the shopping was OK, no panic at all (I don't take any stress for x-mas).

"Hundreds of romantic couples have chosen today to get WED - believing the combination of dates is lucky.
 
"Some are convinced that today will be the day the world ends, as it is the last date on the calendar used by the ancient Mayan civilisation. "
 
"But most experts agree that their calendar really ends on December 21 this year - giving everyone a few more days to call their loved ones. "
 
"Bad-boy footballer and Steve McLaren impressionist Joey Barton weighed into the debate online, declaring: "The world's not going to end today, you ****ing imbeciles. "

Day 179

I have spent  two days inside in a row; well almost two days as I needed to cycle to grocery in a light snow storm today. It reminds me why one needs a car. It still snowing, and I can spent another day inside.. actually tomorrow is time to have a swim in a morning (last time we, me and Virpi, jumped from 5m high and it was the first time for us, pretty scary, but we did it. Is it 10m tomorrow?).

There hasn't been any particular reason for staying in, but I started to fix the house, just a small things which should have been done ages ago, just killing time and it's a good variation to my routines (what routines? Do I have any routine now-a-days? It's clear that I'm getting to bed later than used to, and waking up later as well, but that's all about the routine). I have managed to vary the structure of days pretty nicely and thus not got bored at all. Now, it's snowing and there are decent amount of snow outside already, should I start doing something new again? Like skiing? I hate that! Always hated, starting from early school times (and maybe the reason lies there..). So, I better buy some skis and start skiing twice a week.. (NOTE: this was only a though, not a promise).

Good night folks.

Day 178

I just heard that Huawei ("Huihai" näin kavereiden kesken, just  between friends) is investing R&D (tutkimus ja kehitys) unit in Finland and location would be Helsinki. Huawei is a Chinese competitor for NSN. (and also for Nokia, but not in a same scale)

Isn't a bit funny that NSN transferred its R&D to China but Huawei is investing in Finland? NSN reason was purely economical, cost effective they say, but that's very narrow minded and risky, if you don't understand the foreign culture and act accordingly. NSN didn't.  Maybe Huawei just likes the Finnish weather and delighted employees around.

Day 177

Jobs in Satakunta today.
Unfortunately all interesting ones needs extended knowledge of offshore business, which might not be my core competence area I'm afraid.

But this is interesting ! :)

Day 176

Pete Kettunen, a great win, and what a thriller in Switzerland! I don't congratulate yet, but tomorrow. All the best for the final!

And for those who does not have a clue what I'm talking about:
http://yle.fi/urheilu/suomi_mm-finaaliin_huikeasta_trillerista/6408318

 Why this news? I played with him in early 90's . (So basically I'm entitled for all the glory :) )

Day 175

I paid today for headhunters. Well, it's not really a headhunter as such, but a company who "finds suitable job for you". It's annoying that there are jobs around,  where you are directed with external company to apply. And you are not able to apply without paying a monthly fee. Even more annoying is the fact that one of the job advertized today in trusted site is not existing via headhunter pages, even though that is said to be only channel to apply. --> I find a job which was interesting --> paid for headhunters as it was only way to get more info and apply --> job is not esiting in their pages --> can't apply --> paid for nothing --> me, a jackass?

Day 174

The day number 174 is also known as Independence Day of Finland. This is 95th year.
This is what Wikipedia says about the day:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_Day_(Finland)

Day was well received in our family and included a nice lunch and TV, more than 7 hours of it. The tradition is to watch "Tuntematon Sotilas" movie, twice (2 versions), more than 3 hours each.

Day 173

Today is the day when most of the Finns get some tax refund ( I heard the figure of 3 millions with average refund of 700 €. That`s a big pile of money).
I got some refund too, but it's all gone already. ( I like to burn some money before I get any. In that way you dont need to worry too much how to spend all the money in one go). That's sooooo bloody handy!

Day 172

Tuesday 4th of December.

Is this THE job for me:

" Our business is expanding and we are looking reinforcements. 
If you are a lazy GOOD-FOR-NOTHING BUM Location: Lempäälä

You know zip, zilch, zero about sales work and despise anything to do with technology. Your worst nightmare would be a well-drilling project that you had to organise at your step-dad's summer place. You are dead set against anything that has to do with mining, because, basically, tunnels and parking garages suck! Computers are great for playing patience on, but other than that, all they're good for is a paperweight. You're great at avoiding any tasks set by your supervisor, in fact you excel at it.
 You are a loner and your co-workers should steer clear of you. The only travelling you want to do is after work... straight to the nearest pub. You speak fluent street slang; any other language is a waste of time. Speak Swedish? You’ve got to be kidding! Keep those Vikings away! If you have any friends to speak of, even they think you're a complete loser. You lack all creativity. Your favourite pastime is drawing rude pictures on the walls of public toilets. If this description is nothing like you, please do not hesitate to apply for the position of Export Manager or Export Engineer.
 For more information contact Jukka Luoma on 3 December between 1 and 3 p.m. or on 10 December between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. at tel. +358 400 744 746. Send your CV and application, including your salary expectations, to the address rekry(at)robit.fi by 16 December 2012.

 In case we have no other option we might even consider hiring a Finn."

Day 171

It looks like someone has seriously decided it's time for a proper winter. It has been so dark last 2 months, but not anymore. That's a chance for better, although -15C is not what I have in my mind; I would rather have +5, but then it would be dark again, instead we have snowy surroundings

I hope that all you homeless people have some shelter tonight.

You might fancy to follow http://lounaassa.blogspot.fi/ also starting from 15th of December (and prior)

Day 170

a cold day, -16 C

Day 169

A night with a snow storm Ratsia and a good food, red wine, Ratsia. Lontoon Skidit.

Hmm, doesn't make much sense, does it?.
Anyway, a night wirh goiod friends!

Day 168

a useless day, a day without a story, nothing to remember nothing to tell. I spent most of the time on sofa with PC and Spotify, brain dead. It's bloody cold outside and some white stuff arrived with a storm, better to stay inside.

Day 167

a different kind of day; travelled twice to Tampere.  First the morning session,  which was great: I jumped to train at six, had a coffee in Coffee House in Tampere (picture below) at 07:45, walked towards Pispala, carried some furniture type of stuff for 3 hours, enjoyed to sit next to real truck driver towards Pori (hyvät kyydit Mikko), coffee in Havanna Pori, and back to Tampere, airport this time and with a car ( gave a lift), and now back at home with love ones and red wine. I had a good time today !! Cheers.

Day 166

Wednesday 28th of November

another day gone.. without a job. Every morning I wake up with a smile (not really, but..) due to fact that I have a priviledge to have another day just for me and people close to me. You know the feeling like having extended holiday. There are days though to worry a bit about the future and where to get my living after "extended holiday " period. There haven't be any matching job ads in last 3-4 weeks in the area of Satakunta. But I have done the decision NOT to start a new job in day 200, but rather day 300 or something. That gives me more time to find a meaningful job, and not to rush to the decisions which are not meant for me after all.

X-mas is approaching and I would though that no new jobs will be announced on that period, maybe its better to close the books for the year 2012 in a matter of intensive job hunting.

Day 165

3 days forecast give us some hope for a snow. Mainly the snow will land to the southern part of the Finland, and not that much -if any- to the west coast. I'm not too keen for snow yet; I have been pretty happy to cycle without snow, like today the weather was mild and dry enough to cycle for a coffee and later to ice hockey game.

Anyway, I have me own balls (snow) ready for x-mas, with or without snow:

Day 164

Right. I have spend basically the whole day trying to get Windows 8 working smoothly, and now I'm ready to give up. There has been and still are issues, which are not acceptable. (like you get error codes -which are not regionized by Windows support pages-, when trying to download applications or SW updates, but you need to find hacking information via various forums to get it work). Most of the drivers must be reinstalled and manually of course. Facebook does not work via dedicated Windows application and many more...

But the most annoying is the slowness of the operating system; responses to commands are far too slow, especially Internet explorer: it could take 45 sec to open a page.

This is crap, don't install - I know it's not meant to be like this, but I was expecting a bit better installation procedure. 10 years back Windows issues were acceptable because there wasn't none to compare (apart from Linux, which wasn't that widely used). But today both Android and Apple has shown what is the smooth SW and application installation process, and this falls far from that. Disappointing.

I must keep using win8 for couple of days as I'm not ready to downgrade back to 7 right now; more likely there are more problems waiting for me...

Day 163

I updated Windows 7 to version 8 tonight. Why? Wanted to get a feeling and compare it to the Android 4. The upgrade was easy and was executed nicely. Took couple of hours, including Win 8 downloading process (2GB). But then problems with email, printer ,Explorer 10 and... It takes time to get it ready for full use. I won't be able to finish it tonight.

First impression? Well, the interface needs some more learning and tuning before I can tell for sure, but it didn't give the "ahaa" feeling, so far. But the direction is right and who knows, it might start feeling good. BTW, it's installed in PC, not in the laptop or tablet, which would be better choice.

Day 162

the day looked like this at 10:45

Day 161

 

This is it.

Tomorrow I will win this Powerball (USA) lottery and I don't need to write any CVs anymore.

Problem solved.

 

 

 

 

BTW, I wont continue my blog after tomorrow; I'll need my own company to decide what to do with all the money.

Day 160

Abramovich makes me see red; He's a bloody joke! He really tries our nerves and makes it very difficult to support his decisions. This is the worst of kind:

"Rafa Benitez will walk into a Stamford Bridge on Sunday after being appointed Roman Abramovich's ninth Chelsea manager."

and this how the Chelsea fanzone replies:
"Dave Johnstone, editor of the main Chelsea fanzine, cfcuk, said: "Rafa Benitez is not a Chelsea manager. He isn't what we want."
"Some Blues fans threatened to rip up their season tickets in protest, with others stating a determination to show Abramovich they detested a man they describe as a "fat Spanish waiter" after the popular Di Matteo paid the price for the Champions League debacle against Juventus."
"When he was manager of Liverpool and we had Jose Mourinho he was very dismissive of Chelsea, very rude towards us. Whenever anything went wrong, it was always somebody else's fault, not his"

I would like to go and see the next Chelsea home game (next Sunday, Man City) and give my booooo, which I expect to hear a lot when Rafa shows up

Day 159

There's a new book by John Grisham called "Racketeer" which I saw in Arlanda airport (Stockholm) on my way to London. I did not buy it as it cost 32€. I though to get it cheaper in London. But I did not found it anywhere, instead I bought  another Grisham book which I did not know to exist (the book is crap).

Anyway, way back home I stopped Arlanda again and I skipped buying the book. again, because I trusted "Suomalainen Kirjakauppa" and I was sure to get it couple of euros cheaper from there.

Today I visited the shop to buy that book´(in Pori), but they don't have it. It takes 4 weeks to order it! But it's available in Suomalainen Kirjakauppa in Tampere shop. I wonder why it takes 4 weeks to get it to Pori. I did not order it, but I will travel to Tampere instead. Luckily Mikko invited me to Tampere next week to help him packing and stuff, and will have a chance to buy the book at the same time.

Day 158

Tuesday 20th of November

When I quit my job 158 days ago, the golden idea was to find something new, motivating and enjoyable job for next 20 years or so. But during the last weeks the athmosphere had been to find ANY job around here. Is that what I should setteled? No, it cant be. So I better keep on looking and wait for the right one.

Day 157

One of the reason (and there are many) to visit London was to get a feeling of living and working there again; should I still consider London as an option?

And I got the answer; I wanted to say "yes, I still have a desire to work there", but .. No, I did not get that feeling anymore. Damn, am I getting old and scared to step out of my comfort zone? Whatever is the answer, It's pretty clear now that moving abroad  is not an option for next 5-8 years. (unless, there's always "unless", a dramatic change of whole ecosystem).

That means following: I will stick with Pori, I'll use more time to find meaningful job around here. The rest 43 days wont be enough, that's for sure by now. Thus, I better start preparing, a new plan for the first quarter of 2013 and even for the 2nd.

Day 156

the weekend was all about this. Great wins, great time.

Day 155

Saturday 17th of November

Day 154

Why are you writing your CV again, I hear you asking. Well, is it's crap if we believe the online company which writes CV for you, with a nice price tag. They review your CV and gives extensive feedback, negative mostly, for free. Then they offer their professional services. It's a good concept. I was almost crying for their help.

They made a good point though; the content, the core, is pretty thin in my current CV. It really does not give the answer for the question "what has been my best achievements", but rather just says what have been my tasks. Being "responsible of" something does not tell enough.

Thus I started to study a) various formats of CV, and b) what I have achieved, really, during my years in telecommunication business. And THAT takes time. Deadline is by end of next week as there is one interesting job available in Vaasa, or kind of interesting. But this weekend I'm busy with floorball in Turku, where our season starts, in for both 40 years and 45 years finnish championship serie.

Day 153

Tonight we'll see the real Pori and what we really are like :)

 

 

Day152

It felt like a day at work today! Starting to rewrite my CV again and managed to do 5 hours; that's like a working hours, almost. Couldn't finish the CV though and need to continue, but not tomorrow; I need a couple days break now.

Day 151

I'm too lazy to write anything today. Instead, here's the picture of... a bedroom lamp. sight

Day 150

Day one five o. That is 50 days to go.

If I would be a project manager, I would send a serious message out to all stakeholders: red flag, re-planning to be started. Normally there would be actions to evaluate the situation and analyse the cause for the failure, and agree the new content with customer and ensure you able to deliver at least the mandatory part.

But this is one man show, and I can do what ever I want to :). This time the board has decided to... not to take any dramatic preventive actions to solve the foreseen problem, but instead.. continue to enjoy the spare time in hand. Reason: one day it all will end.

Day 149

they actually have some marketing effort after all.. this is from Selfridges & Co store window (400 Oxford Street London). And yes, X-mas was already present.

http://style.selfridges.com/store/london

Day 148

The view from the plain on Thursday

Day 147

Here's to cheer you up- this is how they teach history in the school today; after this you remember the names of politicans :) (thanks Hugo for the hint)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK4tbUBXfuQ

Day 146

Day 145

Today it's all about Chelsea and UEFA cup. The import win!


P.S. USA has elected Obama as a president, congratulations. But isn't outrageous that the whole show costs around 3 billion ? At the same time, americans spent around 6.5 billion for Halloween costumes and stuff alone. That shows the size of the market we are talking about.. and the priority.

Day 144

Unemployment rate in London is 8.9%, that is roughly 380 000. If I remember right, that is in  line with Satakunta figures, the %, not the actual number of unemployed; Satakunta has a couple of persons under 380 000 last time I checked. 

http://lseo.org.uk/data/london-data

I would like to attach nice pictures rather than dull fact, but havent managed to upload any, no matter where I have been and which network used, I gave up.

Day 143

This is the city where I could spend my days as unemployed. There are so much more than what Pori can offer ( u're surprised, eh ?). Like today: a sunny morning, beatiful buildings and surroundings, 2 hours walk, breakfast and no hurry to anywhere... and now in the pub, having a pint, reading Satakunnan Kansa ( not really!), and..

... I'm running out of the money. Gosh, how expensive this place can be for unemployed person. Damn. I must come back home, it's not fair. * I tell you what's not fair: there are 600 kids in the streets of London, stateless,(no record that you exist, due to various reasons) without of ANY help of any kind. And it makes you feel sick. So, I think again, what's " fair".

Day 142

I was about to attach some pictures today, but it was too much to be asked from this cafe place network, more likely due to poor upload capacity.

Anyway, there was a heavy downpour this morning and I was worried about my possibilities to walk around. But, the rain stopped right after I had bought the umbrella, how typical.

The QPR game, all the walking  and the shopping after made me feel very exhausted and I'm ready to call the day off. Tomorrow I'll change the hotel and tell you more. good night.

Day 141

Day onehundredfortyone was a good day, a great day. Everything went as planned.I was out in streets already at 8.15, and just returned, at 22.15 ( i'll go for a pint in a minute and finish this writing there as the WiFi is crap in my room).

I started a day with a coffee(s) and a paper(s) in two coffee shops, located 10km apart from each other, had a lunch watching football in a nice sport cafe. Travelled to West Ham (which actually is 25 km to the east from London city, but still in London) and got a ticket to the evening game. ( I was really taken by the atmosphere of West Ham United: Prior the game they sang " we are united" by Sham69, the 80's punk band. And, and the players were introduced with a "London Calling" by the Clash in the background !!!!!!! Wow! ).

I came back from Upton Park (stadium) by bus; and it took me 2.5 hours to get back. I walked some part and I needed to use 3 different buses, and I didn't always know where I was. I didn't want to use GPS or a map, but went by the instinct, and got lost a few times. It was fun and I saw many places, which I wouldn't have visited otherwise.( the route to be sent later once I have time, Sport Tracker recorded it all).

Day 140

Today I ..

and I will see this game...

and this game...

and planning to see this game...

 and rest of the time I ...

https://web.barclayscyclehire.tfl.gov.uk/maps

and I might, just might,  drop in to these kind of places ...

Have a nice weekend you too, and I'll keep updating the blog as usual. Surely I'll find suitable places with WiFi.

Day 139

Thursday 1st of November

Unemployment status in Finland:
(Sorry, it's all in Finnish).

"Kaikkien työttömien lukumäärä oli syyskuussa 228 000 (215 000 syyskuussa 2011). Työttömyys alkoi kasvaa huhtikuussa ja sen jälkeen kasvunopeus on tasaisesti kiihtynyt. Muutos oli 6 % edelliseen vuoteen verrattuna. Työttömien määrä on kasvanut aiempaa nopeammin sekä alemman että ylemmän korkeakoulututkinnon suorittaneidenkin joukossa"

"Ylemmän korkeakouluasteen tutkinnon suorittaneita oli syyskuussa työttömänä 13 000 (11 000). Tälläkin koulutusasteelle työttömyys on kasvanut entistä nopeammin kesän jälkeen, nyt muutos oli 18 % verrattuna edellisvuoteen. "

Be a dentist, not an engineer:

Day 138

.. there's a good game on the telly, and it's in extra time, no time to write, Chelsea leads by 4-3 against Manu..

Day 137

I was 90% sure to be called to interview session for one of the job I applied. But the deadline is now gone and I did not received any invitation.

I can imagine only three possible options why I wasn't called:
a) I'm too old for the position (they might be after a "fresher" person)
b) I'm over qualified for the task.
c) my application was poor and I did not show enough interest for the position.

I'm getting a bit worried actually not been called to the interviews and not been able to find suitable and interesting positions in this area. I have woke up twice lately in the middle of the night and worried about the future, which is not typical for me.

On the other hand, I'm very optimistic person and I'm sure everything turns up just fine for me, just needs to be patient and keep the eyes open and positive mind ! ..and by saying that, I'll will go out and have a fresh cuppa and read the latest news via tablet PC and.. enjoy.

Day 136

We are living in the gadget-world; we have mobiles, laptops, internet connections, GPS, you name it. They should make our life easier, but does they. Lets take an example of the real world.

I live in Pori where I know most of the places, and still I carry my mobile with GPS on, tablet PC with WiFi connection on, The internet connection is always on via 3G network and it's fixed monthly price. Convenient, but could live without ? After all, the city is familiar to me; I know my location and the restarants and places.

One day I travel abroad, like to Budapest. After landing I turn my mobile on immediately, already in a plane of cause not to miss any possible or non possible calls or message or mails. The first set back is the internet connection via 3G, as it is far too expensive to use abroad. I should buy a prepaid SIM, but then I couldn't use my ordinary sim for incoming calls. Not an option.

It would be nice to get familiar with the city via map. I don't have a paper copy as it would be old fashion way and awkward to use, so I use a map via mobile, but that doesn not work because  an internet connection is needed to download the map of my location. So I need to find a place with WiFi to pre-load it. Found a coffee shop with free WiFi. Done, good. I go for a long walk and after 30 min I feel lost. I turn the GPS on to see where I am. But the GPS does not work; tall buildings around, no connection to the satellite. I walk another 30 min and finally GPS turns on, just to inform that I have walked to wrong direction all the time.

I'm tired, need to find a decent coffee shop to sit down and rest for a minute or two. Luckily I have this Trip Advisor application in my mobile and it has all the coffee shops in Budapest. But oh, I need a internet connection to use the application and its nice features. So I need a WiFi again. After 20 min of walk I find one, without any electronic help. I check other coffee shops around via this application, it shows less than 10 of them, in the whole city? Not including the one where I just sit, nor any of those I have already visited. Bloody handy application!

I turn off all the electronic gadgets and trust my eyes and keep on walking...

Day 135

Day 134

jo napot kivanok

you guys couldn't wait, but needed to dump this white stuff everywhere while I was away. Nice. I wonder what you might be upto while I am in UK. but before that I "enjoy" the white surprise for couple of days.

Day 133

the walking route, or the part of it, depends on the GPS and its mood.

The "star" sign is the home base, and the "blue arrow" presents the pub where I'm currently having a pint.

Day 132

I walked around, a lot, and tried to remember places where I have been previously. My first visit to Budapest was 21 years ago, part of InterRail tour with my friends. Travelling was a bit different on that time and buying a monthly train ticket across to Europe was the most convenient way of travelling. No common currency in Europe, no credit cards, but travel cheques, no Internet to check places or GPS for current location, passport checks in every border, and so on.

Has Budapest evolved to better during these 20 years?
We're stopped by the police in the peaceful evening and our passports were checked carefully; the taxi driver introduced a huge knife he has under the seat; we were caught by the inspector of the metro, ticket less, and the pride of 5 finnish markka was enough to let us go after an hour "interview".
 All that have changed since then, or have we  changed? :)

Day 131

a day in :