There’s a General Election taking place this week. Come Friday morning we could quite likely have a brand new leader.

But who to vote for?

Labour. They’ve been in power for the last 13 years, and the country is, I think we’ll all agree, not in a good way. But we’re on the road to recovery. Should we change the government and risk putting us back a bit? Or would a change do us good?

Conservative. On the surface I like David Cameron. He’s young(er), energetic and seems to say the right things. But he resembles a life insurance salesman. He’ll say all the right things to get a sale, but read the small print and you’ll realise you’ve been swindled.

The Lib Dems are probably my favourite. But there’s something about Nick Clegg. He seems like a nice bloke and all, but I have a feeling they’re not quite as well prepared, the sums might just not add up. He’s like a school supply teacher, would be a nice change but in the long run won’t do us any good.

And the SNP. Well where to start. I like most of their policies. Except their main one. Independence for Scotland? I don’t see them dropping that one in a hurry. No thanks.

Who to vote for? Can’t make up my mind. Thankfully I don’t have to decide. I stupidly didn’t get my name on the electoral register in time.

Women threw themselves in front of race horses for the right to vote. Countries are fighting because they don’t have the option to vote. And I foolishly didn’t put my forms in the free post envelope in time. I’m ashamed with myself, really I am.

I’m going on about this like a stuck record, but it’s something I feel strongly about.

I was in a meeting at work the other day. The subject of the meeting was streaming formats, bitrates and accessibility to these streams. The usual boring work related subjects.  Along came the topic of mobile listening.  Asked by someone in the meeting “Do you own an IPhone David?” the answer was “no, no I don’t.”  And just like that, almost instantly, I was dismissed as having any sort of knowledgeable viewpoint or understanding of mobiles, streaming and their future.

Trying to bring to the meeting the idea that media organisations shouldn’t just concentrate on iPhone development, but multi platform support, bringing in devices such as Android and Blackberry was almost frowned upon, because it wasn’t the latest ‘in craze’, the iPhone.

Thinking about it afterwards, I should have said yes to the question posed to me. While I don’t own an actual iPhone,  it would seem that the term ‘ iPhone’ has become an umbrella term for anything smart phone like, and I do own an smart phone, a much smarter phone than an iPhone in my opinion. In pretty much in the same way that I own a Hoover, well I don’t, I own a Dyson, and the Tannoy system in our school was actually made by Panasonic, therefore it wasn’t Tannoy at all because Tannoy is a brand name of Sony.

I know a lot of people who love technology, love media, and quite often show me the ‘latest amazing thing’ that their iPhone can do. If I try and do the same with my Android phone I’m ignored because it’s not an iPhone.

With Apple releasing details of their latest iPhone OS4.0, news outlets like the BBC, Guardian, Telegraph and loads more are all over the story. I like these newspapers, but sometimes their over biased coverage of Apple products amaze me. And this is why your bog standard punter doesn’t know or like anything other than the iPhone, because Apple get so much coverage and the mainstream media are not at all interested in anything else.

This isn’t a dig at anyone I work with. It’s not a dig on iPhone users. It’s a dig on the general ignorance and perception of iPhone’s as a whole. Don’t get me wrong, there’s some things Apple and the iPhone do far superior than my Google Android phone. Brilliant marketing, seamless integration with your computer, well timed regular software updates and the games and graphics on an iPhone is far superior to any other phone I’ve seen .  But we shouldn’t put all our development eggs in one iPhone shaped basket. Once the iPhone app is ready we shouldn’t just sit back and rub our hands with glee because we have an fancy pants  iPhone app, because if we do that, we are alienating A LOT of people.

The future of mobiles isn’t the iPhone. It will play a large part of the future, but so will Android, Symbian, Blackberry, WebOS, Meemo and who knows what else as time goes by.

Recently I’ve noticed quite a few people doing a task that I tried about 4 years ago. To take a photo every day. It doesn’t have to be a good photo or an arty photo, just something to show what I did that day.

I lasted a few months last time. This time I’m going to try a year.

I’m using blipfoto.com, a website where I can only upload one photo a day. My profile is blipfoto.com/drl

Lets see how I get on. I won’t promise anything.

The Sandpit from Sam O’Hare on Vimeo.

I tried my hand at creating a tilt-shift photo a few years back.

I could spend a good few hours browsing through the tilt-shift group on Flickr. But I have things to be getting on with.

Well we survived it. Emma’s first Up Helly Aa.

It’s difficult to explain to people exactly what Up Helly Aa is. It’s probably best I paraphrase what Wikipedia says on the matter.

Up Helly Aa refers to a fire festival held in Shetland, in Scotland, annually in the middle of winter to mark the end of the yule season. The festival involves a procession of up to a thousand guizers in Lerwick, formed into squads who march through the town in a variety of themed costumes.

There is a main guizer who is dubbed the “Jarl“. There is a committee which you must be part of for fifteen years before you can be a jarl, and only one person is elected to this committee each year.

The procession culminates in the torches being thrown into a replica Viking longship or galley. The event happens all over Shetland, but it is only the Lerwick galley which is not sent seaward. Everywhere else, the galley is sent seabound, in an echo of actual Viking sea burials.

After the procession, the squads visit local halls (including schools, sports facilities and hotels), where private parties are held. At each hall, each squad performs its act, which may be a send-up of a popular TV show or film, a skit on local events, or singing or dancing, usually in flamboyant costume.

Due to the often-flamboyant costumes and the large quantity of males dressing up as females, it has earned the joke name ‘Transvestite Tuesday’.

You tend to find people in Shetland are either very in to Up Helly Aa or they can’t be doing with it. I tend to fall in the category of “can’t be doing with it”.  But I needed to visit home at some point and Emma was keen to see what the fuss was about so we decided to pick Up Helly Aa week to pay a visit.

I say we survived it. To truly experience Up Helly Aa you need to party all through the night to 8am the following morning. My sister does, but Emma and I are far too boring to do that. Instead we were tucked up warm in bed by midnight having spent a day witnessing bearded men brandishing axes and throwing lit torches into wooden boats… this could only happen in Shetland.

Emma took this short video of the procession and burning.

More photos:

It’s been an odd festive season for me as it has been the first one I have ever spent away from home. But I have been kept busy with work and visiting Emma’s family that I have not really had time to miss Shetland too much.

I’m looking forward to doing something quite spectacular with this blog later in the year, details to follow in due course.

Here’s to 2010!

P.s. can anyone confirm what I should call this decade? The tens? I still haven’t got used to calling the last decade the noughties.

Here’s some of the common terms or questions asked in the last month along with the answer to them.

darren brown lottery
It was a con wasn’t it..? He never predicted the numbers, you cant, it’s impossible.

what time does Aberdeen College finish?
about 5pm, although it ultimately depends on what your timetable says.

car ferry aberdeen to norway
Afraid not. If only there was.  Emma hates flying.

baby meerkats at blair drummond
Well worth a visit. Very cute.

aberdeen to stavanger plane cruise height
I’m by no means an aviation expert but I would imagine about 12,000 ft?

asda statutory rights policy
Off the top of my head, I’m not sure..

bt payment processing fee
It’s about £5!! Outrage.  Pay by Direct Debit wherever you can kids.

edinburgh zoo a disgrace
It is..  a waste of money. Don’t go.

if i buy an iphone in uk can i use it with canadian sim?
Not unless it’s unlocked, which coincidently O2 are now doing for free..

In the last few years Watchdog, sad as it is to admit, was always a telly highlight for me. I’m quite fond of Nicky Campbell and wasn’t too keen on him being replaced by Anne Robinson, the original host of the programme.

However Anne Robinson isn’t the problem here. It’s the new format I have a problem with. In the old style Watchdog she would have been fine.

Here’s my problems:

#1 They have extended a 30 minute programme into an hour. When you double the length of a programme you need to make sure you have  a 100% perfect programme.  At 1 hour it is just prolonging the agony of the following points.

#2 The film look. Recently lots of soap dramas have been adding this American film effect to the programme. Neighbours and Casualty are two examples I can think of.  It works to an extent on soaps, it doesn’t work on Watchdog.

#3 Watchdog seems to have turned into a chat show.  This week we had special guests. I use that term loosely. Gabby Logan and the girl who plays Lucy Beale in Eastenders doing a report. Next week, guests are Beverly Knight and a “special” star from X-Factor.  This is Watchdog. Before the only guests would be MD’s from companies under the spotlight.  Add to that the fact they now have an audience and Anne Robinson doing quiz sections, it’s like watching some poor daytime TV programme.

#4 They’ve incorporated the TV programme “Rouge Traders” into Watchdog. Presumably to pad out the hour. In Rouge Traders we see presenter Matt Allwright drive about the country on a motorbike with his assistant fighting rouge traders. Turning up at their doors unannounced. Going undercover. That sort of thing.  Except half of the Rouge Traders element was spent with Matt and his assistant trying to be funny.  Once again, let me remind you, this is Watchdog. Not a comedy programme. I wouldn’t mind if they had been funny, it was just cringeworthy. In one part of Rouge Traders, the salesman they accosted claims “you should do some research, your programme is a joke”, the irony is, he was right. It is a joke.

#5 They now seem to cover less stories over a whole hour. There were very few interesting consumer pieces. They also used to give good advice, but now that seems to have gone.  On one story there were three people who had all lost relatives and as a result Virgin Media had cancelled their broadband, rather than transfer the contract to a surviving family member. All three customers were having trouble getting through to Virgin Media support. This could have been a good piece. Except the only suggestion Watchdog had was to write a song, make a video and add it to You Tube to gain some exposure. Hardly good advice. Especially if Virgin Media have cancelled their broadband. How would they upload it?

I feel sorry for Anita Ranni. She was on the old style Watchdog and was a good presenter. Now she seems to be co-presenting a middle of the road chat show for the lowest common denominator. We already have the One Show for that.

I can only presume they were going down the Top Gear road. Entertaining rather than informing. Except Top Gear manages to pull that off, Watchdog doesn’t. Nicky Campbell must have a good chuckle to himself this evening.

We have just returned from a weeks visit to Norway. Actually we have been back a couple of weeks now but there is a bit of a delay between doing something and then finding the time to blog about it.

I know it would seem not that long ago since my “holiday to Spain” post, and your probably thinking “two holidays in short succession, fine for some”, and you’d be right in thinking that. Thankfully its not like we are newly graduated students who have loans and debts to be paid back and savings to be made……

Let me fill you in. This was my 14th visit to Norway. I have been every year since 1998. In two of those years I have been twice. It started because my parents realised it was much easier and quicker to get from Shetland to Norway than it was to get to Aberdeen. And at least when the car rolled off the back of the ferry in Bergen you were in a much more scenic, friendlier and not to mention foreign country rather than the arriving in delights of down town Aberdeen.

Now 12 years later I live away from my parents, in Aberdeen, there’s no ferry across thanks to the recession and yet it is still a bit of a tradition to pay Scandinavia a visit every summer. I like to think of it as the annual pilgrimage.

This year we had an excuse to go. Last September (4 weeks or so after being in Norway) I was sent a link to the Nowegian version of Ticketmaster, where I found Coldplay were to be playing in Bergen. Coldplay are one of those bands that I’d always wanted to see but never quite got round to it. Cost aside, the thought of getting to and seeing them in Bergen was much more appealing than the thought of getting to and seeing them in Glasgow. The trip would take less time, the venue is much nicer, it’s a better story to tell and most importantly, there’s very few Glaswegians in Bergen.

Gig tickets were booked. As were the plane tickets.

We decided to turn it into a little bit of a holiday. You’d think after being in Norway 13 times prior to this trip that I would have been well travelled round the country. You’d be wrong. I’ve never ventured too far away from Bergen (on the west coast).

We decided to spend a few days in Stavanger which is only 50 minutes on the plane from Aberdeen.  We’d then travel the 100 or so miles north to Bergen where we’d spend the remaining 4 days (and see Coldplay).

The flight from Stavanger to Bergen is one of the easiest flights I have ever taken. It was in a 737 which is one of the largest planes to operate out of Aberdeen. It was the same model of plane that took us to Spain. Only when we went to Spain it was full (and I mean jam packed full) of drunken holiday makers and screaming kids.  The flight to Stavanger was around half full and mostly of business people or older couples. The seat belt lights were off for about 20 minutes before the descent into Sola airport began. Even Emma who is scared of flying commented on how quick and stress free it was.

After arriving in Norway it does not take long to witness first hand the higher prices of everything.  For example, to get us from Sola airport to centre of Stavanger cost £18 on the airport bus for the two of us.  You’ve got to accept before you go that it is going to be an expensive trip.  While you can scrimp and save in places, don’t bother trying to do Norway on a tiny budget. You’ll fail and end up having a horrible holiday knowing that you are spending far more money than you ever intended on doing so.

Stavanger looked pretty much how I expected it. A nice coastal town full of colourful buildings. A smaller version of Bergen. It was also chucking it down. More or less to be expected from Western Norway where it rains 70% of the time. They say in Norway “when it rains, it rains. And when it doesn’t rain, there’s rain on the way.”

We were staying in the Myhregaarden hotel. Slap bang in the centre of the town. Perfect location for tourists. It was a little on the expensive side (this is Norway after all) however that extra cost was balanced out by the fact we had a chandelier in our room.  It’s set the benchmark for hotel rooms.  Chandelier = good. No Chandelier = bad. There was also a wide screen tv, fireplace and Bjorn Berg toiletries. You’d be forgiven for wanting to spend your whole visit in the hotel room.

There is a problem when you stay in hotel accommodation. You have to eat out.  In most places that isn’t a problem. In Norway it can be.  You see if your like me and don’t like fish, your options are limited.  Most restaurants  have a 5 menu item, of which 4 of those items are fish dishes. Even Emma, who likes fish most of the time, screwed up her face at some of the fancy fish offerings on the menu. That leaves you with one item left which you’ll expect to pay a minimum of £30 per head, and that’s before you’ve added any drinks, starters or puddings on.

We ended up dining 2 out of the 3 nights in Peppe’s Piza. Think TGI Friday’s. The 3rd night was spent in McDonalds. Man I sure know how to treat a lady.

If you are planning a visit to Stavanger I’d recommend hiring a car, at least for a few days. It doesn’t take long to see pretty much everything there is to see in the town. If we’d been there for any more than 3 days we’d probably have had to do the car option.

I can recommend the Stavanger oil museum, it’s much more exciting than it sounds. The Geoparken is to be seen to be believed. It’s a play park (mainly for children and teenagers) made entirely out of ex oil related materials. A trampoline made from marker buoys, a swing made from a helicopter winch basket and a skate pipe made from some old metal pipes are just some of the highlights.  Health and safety would never allow that in the UK.  And Emma was in her element, there’s about 1 cafe for every 10 people in Stavanger. And the majority provide pillows and blankets for sitting outside.

On the fourth day we had to get from Stavanger to Bergen. Emma was presented with 3 options.  A 30 minute flight. A 4 and a half hour fast ferry or a 6 hour bus trip. She’s scared of flying and gets sick on the bus. So the fast ferry it was.  She didn’t really have a choice in the matter as I’ve had my heart set on doing that fast ferry trip ever since I first set my eyes on one in 1998.

We left early morning rainy Stavanger behind, calling in at several ports on our journey north. On open water at 30 knots it was a bit bouncy. I was in my element. Emma was not so much. After switching ferries in Lervik, the final hour and a half of the trip was on a much bigger and smoother ferry. The sun even came out to welcome us in to Bergen.

For me arriving in Bergen is like arriving home. I’ve been there enough times now not to get lost.  Except for this time. But I blame that on the directions given to us by the owners of our accommodation and not because of my navigational skills.  That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.

Our accommodation was at Armunds apartments.  Armund is the owner. He and his wife Greta have converted half their house into apartments. We were in the attic apartment. It’s in a quiet area 10 minutes from the city centre. The view was stunning. If that was my view every time I washed dishes, I’d be more than happy to wash the dishes every evening.

As we were self catering for the remainder of the holiday we could eat what we wanted, when we wanted on a much smaller budget (still expensive by British standards).  I can not recommend self catering enough.  In Bergen there is plenty of self catering dotted around the place. It was a little harder to find in Stavanger (hence the hotel).

Recommended things to do in Bergen: Mount Flóyen must be experienced twice. Once during the day and once at sunset. You need to get the Funicular railway to the top, it’s £7 each return. (You can choose to walk down for half the price if your legs can handle it). It’s a photographers paradise.  There are a collection of nice walks at the top. And of course the token souvenir shop and hot dog stand.

Bergen Aquarium is a good way to spend a few hours. If only for the seals and the penguins. We went early in the morning when it was quiet. If you go in the afternoon you’ll see the seal feeding sessions (we’ve seen this before so we didn’t mind missing it). It’s about £25 each and like most aquariums or zoo’s you must walk through the gift shop on your way out. (Another way to add £25 on to the trip!)

The fish market is also a place that anyone visiting Bergen must witness. Most people turn up their noses at the suggestion of going to visit a fish market although they always apologise with the phrase “you were right” once they have seen it first hand.

Don’t bother visiting the pubs. Or if you do make sure your wallet is topped up before you enter. We stopped past one pub for a couple of drinks before Coldplay.  We were £17 for a beer and a vodka and coke. Like I said before, just accept it, otherwise you’ll have a bad time!

Coldplay were on top form as expected. Big yellow balloons released into the crowd during “Yellow”, a million confetti butterflies released into the crowd during “Lovers in Japan”. Light shows and fireworks all added to the experience of the outdoor venue. Very few drunk people in the crowd (one plus point to the high price of alcohol), and once you leave the venue you are right in the centre of what is a very nice city.  That is why I chose to see them in Bergen rather than Glasgow.  If you are going to see Coldplay at Hampden or Wembley this month then you are sure to be in for a good show.

People who’ve never been before sometimes ask me if it’s worth visiting Norway. I tell them if you like relaxing beach holidays, eating out, drinking and sunbathing then Norway is not the place for you.  If you want to relax amongst nice scenery, you like taking photos, you are prepared not to eat out all the time and want to try somewhere a little different, get booking now.  I’ve never met anyone who has visited Norway and not fallen in love with the country. There is a whole host of Shetlanders like us who visit every year.

We’re back in Aberdeen now feeling a little depressed with no holidays planned thanks to the saving regime that is now in place.  With our travels to America and Canada due to take place next summer, I think the next visit to Norway may not happen for another couple of years.  Some annual pilgrimage that is.

There’s one company excelling in the current financial climate, and that’s the Coca Cola company. Profits are through the roof and their sales targets for 2009 have already been met. All this thanks to Emma and myself who on average bought a Coca Cola every three minutes during our recent trip to Spain, just to keep hydrated.  Incidentally my dentist’s profits seem to be up too, can’t figure out if there is a connection.

When Emma first announced the idea of a holiday in Spain I was a little unsure. In my head Spain was like a Club 18-30 holiday. Imagine that TV programme, Drunk Britain’s Abroad… well that’s how I pictured Spain. I know lots of people who love Spain, but with the greatest respect to them, those three little words “Drunk Britain’s Abroad” still cropped into my head. Plus anyone who has ever seen me in temperatures above 20 degrees will know how badly I cope.

But what the heck, my mother always told me to try new things. So off we went, Spain for seven days of sun, sea and Drunk Britains Abroad…

… and do you know what, what a beautiful place it was.

Benalmadina was the destination. A small Mediterranean town , designed for couples and families rather then your average Club 18 – 30 clientele. The temperature was high, hitting 34 degrees most days, but by the coast the sea breeze kept you cool, as did the copious amounts of Coca Cola (refer to the first paragraph again if you need to).

Sitting on the front of a catamaran in the sunshine with a beer in my hand having spent the few weeks prior to that moment rushed off my feet trying to complete last minute course work for the final time, I realised Emma may have been right after all. And very rarely do I ever think that.