The 2 days we were in Sarajevo were quite busy. They included a Radio interview, visits to 2 schools and a newspaper interview in the lobby of the tallest building in Bosnia. I also got to go to the observation deck on the 35th floor, from where you can see the whole city.
This morning we left around 6 am to drive back to Belgrade, where we had meetings at 3 schools. I am spending the night in a floating hostel on the river Danube, just as I did on Tuesday. If you are ever in Belgrade check it out, it's called Arkabarka.

I have a few last minute things to take care of, but basically I am ready to go. The train leaves in 3 hours time, well it is supposed to,and we will leave for the station in 2 hours. Will should arrive in Belgrade before midnight and someone will meet us and take us to the hotel where the team is staying. Then there will be an early start on Wednesday morning for the trip to Sarajevo, where we will be for 2 days.

Tomorrow afternoon I will take a train to Belgrade with my friend Milan. We are going to join the World Harmony run. He will be with them for about 5 days, but I will be there for almost 2 weeks.In May I was on the run in Slovenia and Italy. This time I will be going to Bosnia, Serbia, Macedonia and Bulgaria. You can check out the website worldharmonyrun.org and get some information on it and see daily reports. If I get a connection and the time I will post something during my trip.

The weekly 2 mile race in Ljubljana is on a 400 meter track. This morning the weather was overcast and quite mild. There were the usual 3 runners and believe it or not, this week I was 2nd. I was working herd to go under 15 minutes, but as I crossed the line the clock rolled over to 15 minutes. Of course this is an improvement and I am happy with it.

Last night there was a basket ball game between Slovenia and Croatia and I could tell from the apartment building across from mine how things were going. Slovenia won by 2 points.

The day was pretty uneventful as it goes.I did go out for a run this afternoon in a light rain and it was very nice.I have noticed that the last couple of days I have had a few minor aches and pains. Not sure if this is because of old age or the change in the weather.

My day started early. Up at 5am than helped making some deliveries. My back was kind of sore, an old problem that bothers me from time to time. It somehow got better as the day went on and I had good energy when I got home this afternoon. I took advantage of the good weather that followed the rain last night and got a nice run in this afternoon.

Had a nice weekend in Maribor, but got back late last night.
It was overcast all day. I went into the city this morning and on the way in I saw someone walking, what looked like a small dog. As I got closer I could see that it was a small black pig. I guess it was a pygmy pig because it was less then 12 inches high. It looked very happy walking along on it's red leash.
When I went out for my run this afternoon I actually put on warm ups, though it is not too cold it was cold enough.

Around this time 8 years ago I was sitting in the departure lounge in Vienna waiting for my flight to New York. Just a routine return home after another trip to Europe. Of course I did not know at the time that this flight would take me 5 days. We were about 3 hours away from New York when we were informed that there had been an attack on the financial district in NY and the airspace over NYC had been closed and there was no space left for us to land in Canada. So we would be returning to Vienna. I will not go into the details of the extraordinary job the airline ( Austrian ) did in taking care of us until my return to New York on September 15, but it was amazing. We flew into an empty JFK airport that afternoon and as I sat in my window seat I could see the plume of smoke rising from lower Manhattan, a very sobering sight. However there was a comfort in being back. Of course we now know that the events of September 11, 2001 have changed the world forever.

I was not able to watch the game, but it seems that England showed just how good they have become under Fabio Capello, when they beat Croatia 5-1 to qualify for the World cup finals in South Africa.Maybe now the fans realize that sometimes we need a foreign coach to bring the best out the English players.

Today is my niece's birthday so of course I want to say Happy Birthday to Shell.
The weather here is becoming quite mixed these days and I notice that when I go out for my run in the evening I am not sweating as much as I did.It has been more than 3 weeks now since I missed a day so I am quite happy that I think I am getting some consistency and it feels like I have good form.
In about 2 weeks time I will be going on the World Harmony Run, which is a relay run to promoted World Harmony. I will be in Serbia, Bosnia, Macedonia and Bulgaria. So my current training will help me a lot I think.
Oh! And England can qualify for the 2010 World Cup if they beat Croatia at Wembley tonight.

Yesterday I saw 2 different T shirts that kind of had the same message. One said Good boys go to Heaven, Bad boys go to Amsterdam. The other said Good girls go to Heaven, Bad girls go to London.
This morning it actually felt cold and one can feel the change in seasons coming.
I also went to the British Embassy yesterday here in Ljubljana to ask them some questions I have about getting National insurance number. It was suggested that maybe my Social security number from the US may be Ok to use. I have to check at the ESS office to be sure. We will see.

It's funny how you go away for a couple of weeks at this time of the year and when you get back, you start to notice that the days are getting shorter. This is mainly noticeable in the mornings when I wake up. The Sun is no longer coming in through my window while I sit and meditate.
Yesterday it was inventory time at the store where I help out sometimes. It was actually a fun time.
I came home to watch the England v Slovenia friendly football game, which England won 2-1. Though England controlled the game, they had trouble scoring. Slovenia only had one shot on goal, from which they scored late in the game.
My friend Abichal ran a 6 day race in Sweden, which finished yesterday. He placed 9th with a total of 501 km Another friend Sarah Barnett won the women's race with 713.9 km.

Due to circumstances beyond my control I got to be late last night. All through the day it seemed like I was still asleep. I did get through the day doing some work and after a short nap on returning home, went out for a run.
After more than 30 years of living in America I have discovered that I do not remember my National insurance number for the UK and now I need it for my new life in Slovenia and a few other things. So begins the long journey of acquiring this information. It's not easy to change your life after many years.But I am having fun.

Well it seems that in less than 24 hours after arriving back I have developed a head cold.It mainly consists of a runny nose at this point, but I woke up after about 3 hours of sleep and it is not letting me get anymore. I hope to nap a little later and then run. I do have to work today, so it would help to get a little more rest.

My flight from New York was delayed an extra 30 minutes, because when they did the head count we apparently had 1 too many people on board. They finally decided that they were counting a baby who was not ticketed. Even so, because of a strong wind we still arrived 10 minutes early in Zurich. I had a 4 hour stop in Zurich, which went by quite quickly and again my flight to Ljubljana arrived early. After settling in I went for a short run, then made pasta for dinner. Around 9:30 I was checking up on e mails and stuff on my computer and next thing I know I am waking up on the couch at 10. So I decided it was time to go to bed. I only managed to sleep until 3am so I got up, but dozed off again about 6 am.