#We're all going on a...Summer holiday...#

Crazy man!

Right. I can easily party with friends all night without drinking a drop of alcohol. I suppose in Sweden that would make you loose you citizenship.

It is. But we have clinics and 12 step programs for that.

Well, I was never a man for greater quantities of alcohol. That's not because I am so sensible. It's just because my stomach won't cooperate. Before I get real drunk I .

The other thing is: My generation tends to drink no alcohol when driving. I notice that people about 10 years older than I are far more relaxed about it. Since I'm a bachelor andlive in a rural area I often drive when meating people. Also I like to be independent.

So - I have many vices - but drinking too much alcohol ain't one of them.

Yes. But you shouldn't over-cook your thigh-on-the-bone roast. Keep it nice and juicy!



I was strictly speaking about myself of course. Didn't mean to imply anything about anyone.

Volker

Of course, I don't drink and drive, but then again I don't drive much to begin with.

I also get HUGE hangovers and like you, it mostly goes to the stomach (and some to the head and general body areas), and while I don't think it's worth it at that exact time, in retrospect it usually is. I can have fun without alcohol, but as far as parties are concerned, they get all the much better with a slight intoxication. Mind you, the days of getting totally sloshed to the extent that I roll around in ditches and stuff is over, especially after I was diagnosed with a chronic liver disease. Whenever I reach the 'perfect level', I slow down with water or nothing at all. Of course, that level may be slightly higher to many of you (except maybe Timmer).

In any case, summer and booze are best friends, especially if the weather is good -- especially because you tend to meet different constellations of people and have parties with all of them.

(that came off more rant-y than I had expected)

Ah, bliss.

Arrived at our paradise summer house on the island of Fur in Denmark after a gruelling 9-hour trip (with my mother) with various busses, trains and ferries. My father was waiting for us here. I could have flown to Bangkok in the same timespan!!

In any case -- arrived, took a bath in the sea, drank a local brewery beer in the seething heat (30 C), drove to some farmer friends of my parents, had a brilliant dinner (all the ingredients came from their own farm -- salad, beans, meat, fantastic potatoes etc.) with loads of wine and whatnot. A fantastic sunset tipped the scale in bliss favour. Tipsy. Summer. Cheers!

Besides: after a gruelling 9-hour trip (with my mother) ...
You realize how that sounds, don't you?

Have a spendid time!

Volker

Here are a few photos I took on today's off-road biking trip on Fur -- a jewel of an island:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set … 62599ba67e

My girlfriend is going to Cyprus for a week... which means... I got the house to myself! Woohoo!!!

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Mmmmmm!

Pancakes have an undeserved reputation for only being about SWEET stuff. But it's actually brilliant with other foods too.

Doing work from home, the summer holidays is defined by when everyone else is off school/college.

We've recently returned from 4 nights in Norfolk (SE England). It's a part of the world I've not been to before and I was curious to see what it was like (it's very flat), but the main reason for going was because of the various nature reserves that are about, particularly places for seeing new birds that are rare in North Wales.

It was really a birthday treat for me (being 50 in a week or two) so it was more expensive than we would normally do. We asked the couple who run a business bird guiding in North Wales to organise a 4-night guided tour of Norfolk. They organised everything - accommodation, travel, entry to reserves and they set up an itinerary for the trip.

It was great! Just relaxing for 5 days with no driving and no thoughts of organising things. The weather was brilliant and it was nice to see a new part of the UK. Some of the days were a bit gruelling: on 3 days I decided to go out "pre-breakfast birding" which meant up at 5am and out to local bird reserves for 6am and back for breakfast at 8.30am...and then the day would begin! On one day I did this we were still out after 9.30pm looking for Nightjars!

I won't go on about it here but if anyone is at all interested (and who is not fed up being bombarded with info and photos on Facebook or Twitter), Anne has written a blog about the trip:

Birding In Norfolk

Sounds nice, Alan. I'm not really into bird-watching, but the scenery and general area sound great.

Is it just me, or is internet activity (forums, social media etc.) extremely slow these days? I've been away for a couple of weeks myself -- without much internet connection -- and it didn't take me long to update myself once I came back two days ago.

This must mean everyone is having some sort of summer holiday. What is everyone doing/planning?