写真撮ってて轢かれそうになったのはいいとして、車とすれ違う時はもちろん気をつけなくちゃいけない。車も避けてくれる。傷つけられたらたまらないから当然か。
その他にも標識とかも結構分かりやすい。
「frei」とはフリーという意味なのかね。きっとそうだろうね。ドイツに滞在して半年以上なのにこんな言葉も分からないとは恥ですな。ごめんよ、ドイツ。
それから交通量の多い交差点では自転車専用の信号があったりします。
信号といえば、ドイツ人は本当によく信号を守る人たちだなーと思います。車が絶対通らない時も青信号を待つ余裕があるみたいです。信号無視する人を見てみれば、かなりの確立で外国人なんですよね。僕も左右見て車が来なければ渡ってしまう方なんだけど、去年の６月警察に見つかって怒られました。怒鳴られました。それ以来、左右見て車が来ないか確認して、さらに前後見て警察がいないか確認してます、っていうのは半分冗談。いや、でも信号無視をしなくなりました。
逆行可能な道と前回の自転車専用レーンで、とりあえず町の隅々まで自転車で行ける気がするんだな。恐るべしフランクフルトの自転車網。あ、これ、続きます。
乗り物ってすごいよね。車、電車、船、飛行機など、移動できるマシーンは、乗るのも見るのも楽しいと思っています。人間は陸海空の移動を制覇していて、あとは速度と快適さとかをどうにかするだけで、もう限界だったりするのかな。地球を掘って裏側に出るとか。テレポートは実現するのか。１００年後が楽しみだね。
人間の移動事情はこうして進化していくけど、僕はさっき挙げた乗り物のほかに、乳母車、三輪車、一輪車、ローラースケートとかをとりあえず経験してきただけ。基本は徒歩。普通自動車の免許は取ってみたものの、車には乗らない。なぜなら地球温暖化問題が表面化してきているこの時代、少しでも排気ガス汚染を防ごうとするのが人間として当然の義務であるから、というのは嘘で、ただ単に車を持ってないから。そして今住んでいるフランクフルトでは自転車をよく使っている。
もちろん日本でも自転車をよく使っていたし、競輪だけは妙に盛んなスペインでも通学するのにチャリンコをギーコギーコしてましたよ。でもフランクフルトというところは群を抜いて自転車で走りやすい都市なんですよ。「ドイツ」と言いたいところだけど、他のところはよくわからんのでフランクフルト。
まずは自転車専用レーンの多さ。大きい通りなら自転車専用レーンは必ずといって良いほどあるんです。これなら車のようにすいすい走れるし、歩行者とぶつかることも滅多にない。事故防止にもなるし、歩行者に邪魔そうな目で睨まれることもない。このレーンは大抵歩道の道路側にあって、緑で塗装されています。矢印で分かるように、基本は車と同じ向きで一方通行。
自転車レーンが２本あることも。
道路を渡るとなっても、自転車が行くべき道が白のペンキではっきりと分かるようになっています。
それから思いっきり道路に自転車専用レーンが設けられてることも。
フランクフルトに来てから、未だに車のクラクションを食らわされたことはないんでね、こういった整備のおかげでもあると思います。
みなさん運転には気をつけましょう。あ、これ、続きます。
Ports are so big. That’s the main difference, if we compare them with airports o stations. The containers, the sea, the sun, the ships. When they live in harmony altogether. That's when I see the good in human being.
The architect is Tadao Ando, from Osaka. I didn’t know but it seems like he’s quite famous and won many important prizes. It’s known that Ando studied architecture himself, travelling around the world with the money he won playing boxing matches. The Church of the Light was built in 1989 is in Osaka. The use of concrete is Ando’s sign but what makes it special is that cross. There is not any cross but that cross of light. I don’t remember exactly the words, but he thinks that places where people go to pray have to be in touch with the nature (in this case the light works like that). I completely agree. I’ve read interesting things to tell about this church, the meanings of every single part of the place, but it’s a church, the most important thing is feeling the spirituality.
I really think that Maya Arulpragasam a.k.a. M.I.A. (stands for Missing in Action) has been a real threat for the whole music world when she appeared. She supposed to be a begginer but then she created a school, M.I.A.’s Old School. And she’s hot. I bought her first major album Arular when I listened Bucky Done Gun and Sunshowers (her easiest song to listen). It was a shock. Σ（ﾟдﾟ；）
Her background is from Sri Lanka. She’s often referred to as the daughter of Arul Pragasam, who was active in Tamil independence movement. He also received training from the PLO in Lebanon. She got involved in a controversy when she released the single called Sunshowers because its lyrics inluded “Like PLO, I don’t surrendo”. MTV refused to play her music video and US thought she was expressing support for the terrorists. Σ（ﾟдﾟ；）
You all know that I lived in Wales for a while, and we “Spanish” boys (and whoever joined us) enjoyed walkings through beautiful hills and rivers. Someone had heard that there was a small church near Shaky Bridge, two miles away from Llandrindod Wells, so we tried to get there. We were desperate to see something near that small town. Desperate to find something else to see. And it was worthy indeed.
I’m ashamed that I didn’t know what Cefnllys was until today. OK, I still don’t know its pronunciation. Cefnllys was a town in Powys, county of Wales. And this church is there, in a remote corner of green landscape. Several peaceful graves with graceful tablets welcomed us as we entered to the place. The inside was very cozy. I only knew Catholic churches with those long chairs where ten people can sit together. But this church had some individual (and possibly artisanal) chairs. The church of St Michael is basically a medieval structure, some elements are believed to date to the 13th Century, followed by substantial post-medieval restoration (drastic rebuilding at the end of the 19th Century). -link for more information about this church-
There was also a notebook for visitors and you can get a gift of pretty painted stone. People from Llandrindod Wells/Powys were really kind.
Next to the chuch there were high hills and on the top we found some stones. I wondered what were those stones and rocks in the middle of the grass. Well, we walked above them, we sat there, we threw few stones… to find out, a year later, that those stones are likely rests of Cefnllys Castle. Please tell me that you (people who are or were in Llandrindod) neither knew it.
Anyway, all I want to say is that Wales is relaxing and has little trasures like this church.
These two months I have been working on it. On minesweeper. Instead of writing here? No, I was busy, too. But what a simple and addictive game! Now I don’t need to play that much but somehow it became a kind of therapy for my emotional unbalances, to get away from my problems. I guess it’s not good, but that’s a fact. But now I got tired, so I play when I really want.I believe every user of Windows know this game. Before I was Mac user, so minesweeper was something new and something to conquer. I like taxing my poor brain. You know that it’s about time to write about my dear sudoku.
The rule is simple: the game consists of a rectangular field of squares. If a square that contains a mine is clicked, the game is over. If not, the player has a number between 1 and 8, which indicates the number of mines in the eights sorrounding squares. The player can put a flag any square believed to contain a mine by right-clicking. When the player clears all squares that don’t contain a mine, the player wins. The score is the time taken to do so.
Here is an excellent example:
Outstanding. How the hell can he do that?!
I’ve also tried the Vista version of minesweeper. It has a futuristic sound and the upgrade is obvious but I have to say that the game screen isn’t clear enough because of the color.
Our grandchildren may never see Jvari. Jvari Monastery, or Monastery of the Cross, is a Georgian Orthodox monastery near the World Heritage site Mtskheta. In the fourth century a female evangelist St. Nino credited with covering the country to Christianity, stayed here to pray and erected a cross on Mtskheta's highest peak. A minor church of the Holy Cross was built in the second half of the 6th century, and a bigger church -the Great Church- was erected over the wooden cross between 586 and 605. The Great Church has a splendid interior and facades and is representative of the tetraconch architectural type that was popular not only in Georgia, but the whole region of South Caucaus. Actually it is considered as a model of many other churches. The importance of Jvari complex increased over time and attracted pilgrims from beyond Georgia’s borders.
I have never heard about Jvari, even all I know about Georgia was that that's origin of British singer Katie Melua, I'm sorry. So, when I saw the picture for the first time, honestly I thought it was just a old building. I never thought about the interior. I don't know if it is a good comparison, but it came in my mind that Alhambra is like that: from outside is like old brown building, but the interior is... I would like to visit this monastery since it has been difficult to find pictures of it. Well I guess Jvari isn't that famous and not many people are interested in. So let's improve our knowledge together. You know, it's funny because when I write this section, I often think about the relation between ignorance and sin.
Our grandchildren may never see the Arctic ice shelf. I think ice melting has become a symbol of climate change. Like Kilimanjaro. I just don’t want to repeat all the things that we can hear or read anywhere. Well it’s a real thread when this process is unstoppable. I always thought this frozen ground is something extraordinary. What is going on? Are you ready to say bye-bye to poor polar bears?Recently
It’s not ecologic talk but I found something interesting Picture when I was researching about
This is a American submarine USS Pogy (SSN-647), which was one of the US’s “baddest” Cold War-era fast-attack nuke boats (words from USS Pony Alumni Page). It ends collecting thousand of water samples from over a hundred locations under the polar ice of the
