Nick Hardcastle

200906081

Originally uploaded by nick_hardcastle

http://www.dhahranbritish.com/Galeries0809/FootballStaffStudent/index.html

Another installment of my Ladakh Journal: Chapter 7

I have decided to move my blog back to wordpress as it is easier to host there than keep updating the many files on my own server.

My recent posts have been about Ladakh. I have been looking over my journal from 2005 and producing SoundSlides. I can see lots of room for improvement but, here they are.

http://www.hobnail.com/Ladakh09/Ladakh_Ch5/index.html
http://www.hobnail.com/Ladakh09/Zangskar-Chumik/index.html

Cave dwellings, originally uploaded by nick_hardcastle.

Having spent a full ten days living with my computer, it might be good to go back to work. Might … I have learned a great deal about action script, java, Ajax and xml, but in retrospect I think that I would have been better living in a cave in the mountains. If I spend any longer sitting in my chair, I may lose the ability to walk.

I have upgraded my server … and so my website is off-line at the moment.

Ramadan has finished. Was it really only one month?

Drought, originally uploaded by nick_hardcastle.

This photograph was taken about 12 years ago when I visited Flores (Indonesia) during a drought. The villagers came out to see me because they thought I was a priest. Something to do with the beard and speaking Indonesian.

So … I am on holiday … but in Saudi during Ramadan.

Yesterday I spent so long in my chair that I could hardly walk when I got up to fill my glass. Nothing to do with the home brew either. I did manage a run, just four sweaty miles on the corniche after dark. But for most of the day I was beating myself over the head with a stone. Not literally, of course – for some reason I decide to upgrade my website so that I can host my own WordPress blog and to learn how to use Flash Panorama Player. Neither of these things turned out to be simple.

When I bought the domain www.hobnail.com I purchased it from a reliable company in the UK. A short time later it was taken over by another company with more divisions than I have trousers. One of these divisions registers my domain name, another looks after my server and a third bills me for the privilege.

I spent two hours trying to find MySQL. Strange really, as I wouldn’t have recognised him if we had slept together. I had three and a bit, but needed four and apparently five is the latest and greatest. With little hair remaining, I did find a gracious gentleman who furnished me with a telephone number and salvation. Gratification was delayed however. My host employs Englishmen and they don’t work after five. Sometimes I would far rather deal with Delhi, even if the regional accents are not quite kosher. But then, eating regularly in Bradford, how would you define a British accent?

If that was all Dutch to you, I hope you are blonde, for my first attempts at Action Script were rather sluggish too. Simple, the website said, no experience necessary. Hm. Fascinating though. I didn’t get to bed until four. Good to have some action at last, even if it wasn’t scripted.

Gold souk, Manama, Bahrain, originally uploaded by nick_hardcastle.

A series of nine 360 degree panoramas of Manama Souk in Bahrain. Link

Bahrain & Manama, originally uploaded by nick_hardcastle.

I spent an hour in Bahrain yesterday evening. When my internet connection is working again I will post them. This post comes to you thanks to the Gulf Terrace Hotel in Al Khobar.

I have no idea why my inernet isn’t working. Perhaps the system is overloaded with so many people on holiday at the moment.

Gompa painting, originally uploaded by nick_hardcastle.

I did a favour for someone the other day. It took several hours. They didn’t even say thank you. This pretty much sums up what I think about it.

Villa, originally uploaded by nick_hardcastle.

Desert Designs has just started opening on Friday’s during Ramadan. That could be expensive…