It has been pretty rainy here this last week or so, but on the weekend I was in Germany and the weather there was really nice. I was visiting with some friends and also trying to make some potential business arrangements for the coffee. I was also had a surprise when I saw an old friend from New York, who it seems is in Europe for a week, so that was nice. I have had a problem with viral conjunctivitis in my right eye, which I got while in Russia. I was given some Homeopathic medicine and it seems to be working.
Looking forward to better weather later in the week.

Where was I. Oh yes during our second night in Vaasa the rest of the WHR team arrived from Iceland. So in the morning we started at a ceremony in the city square near a market. Then with a police escort we ran once again to the park where the statue was. On the arrival of a local runner we made our way to a nearby stadium where the Vaasa marathon would begin. We were introduced to the runners, did a lap around the stadium track and started off on our run towards Helsinki. Some time after our departure the marathon began and as our runners ran with the torch we were joined by the the competitors as the first part of our run covered part of the marathon course.
Since the full team was now here and we had 2 vans we split up into 2 teams we use a method called leapfrogging to cover the distance and also make various ceremonies along the way. The final ceremony was near the place where we would stay the night and we were greeted by a former winter Olympian and medal winner in cross country skiing. We spent our first night on the road in a log cabin

On arriving in Helsinki and finally getting our bags we drove with 2 of our friends to Vaasa in the north, where we got to stay in another friend's apartment for the night.
We had 26 schools to visit on our first WHR day in Finland, we split into 2 teams of 3 with one team visiting 17 schools that were close together and the other visiting 9 schools further apart. It was very cold and windy, but at each school we had a warm welcome. There are 2 official languages in Finland, Finnish of course and Swedish. each of the schools spoke of these. I was on the team that visited 17 schools. We ended our running in a park where we joined with the other team, some school children who came with us and some local officials, near a statue of Sri Chinmoy, the founder of the run. There was a ceremony at which a Peace tree was planted and everyone got to have their photo taken and some interviewed by a local newspaper.

So I have been back from the WHR for 11 days now, so here is the start of my report.
We were scheduled to fly on Baltic from Belgrade to Riga and then on to Helsinki on September 1st.
We arrived at the airport and proceeded to go to check in, but there was no check in. We then looked on the departure screen for our flight and it was not there. After an inquiry at the information desk, we found out that Baltic does not operate flights to Helsinki via Riga between September and February, even though they let us book a flight for September 1st. It seems they had been trying to inform us of this without success. So they had an obligation to give us an alternative flight and booked us on an Austrian Airlines flight through Vienna for the next morning. This did not create a big problem with our Finland schedule so we were happy and we had a better flight.
We arrived in Helsinki mid afternoon the next day instead of late evening the day before and apart from the fact that our bags were delivered to another terminal everything was good. I was in Finland for the first time ;)

I have just come back from spending the last month of the European leg of the World Harmony Run as part of the team. I got to go from Finland, through the Baltic states, Belarus and to the closing ceremony in Moscow. Spending a month living out of a van during the day and having to go out and run several times during those days can seem like a tough deal. That is so far from the truth. Yes there are days when the body is telling you it maybe does not want to run so much, but I am a multiday runner and I am used to that. Even if you struggle a little bit some mornings the feeling you get when people greet you on the road, or the look in the faces of people ( especially children ) when they get to hold the torch, takes away any tiredness that may be present.
Over the next few posts I will try describe what it has been like and focus on each country I ran in. I hope you will enjoy my journey.

So this morning I picked up my visa for Belarus and I am now ready to go. We fly on Baltic Air through Riga to Helsinki om Wednesday afternoon. I am not sure if I will have any internet access during the trip, but when I do I will post something. You can check out how I am doing here http://www.worldharmonyrun.org/ .

I have been in Belgrade now for 2 days, the bus ride was quite pleasant, but the temperature seemed to get hotter and hotter the closer we got to Serbia. I finally got access to the internet so I am now able to make this post.
My 2 WHR team mates and I had a very nice meeting with the consular general for Belarus this morning and will have visa's on Monday. So now I have a few days to relax and there is a possibility that tomorrow I will go on the boat of a friend of mine for a trip around Belgrade, which should be pretty cool.

Today I picked up my visa from the Russian consulate, tomorrow I go by bus to Belgrade where I will get a visa for Belarus and in 11 days time I fly with 2 friends to Finland where we will join the final leg of this years World Harmony Run. Starting in Finland we go to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Belarus. Before entering Russia via Smolensk and finish in Moscow late September. It should be quite an adventure. Not sure if I will have much internet access, but when I do I will try to post something.

It has been 15 years since my mother was killed by an intruder in her home.It is quite a long time but at this time we can easily see how strongly how our loved ones remain in our hearts.
Yesterday I spent around 4 hours at the Russian embassy in Ljubljana applying for a visa for an up coming trip there. A few hours after returning home I got a message that one of my Uncles had had a stroke and is now in hospital, but quite stable and even making jokes. So life has it's challenges, but we go on.

Yesterday I went to the Russian Embassy here in Ljubljana to apply for a visa, but was a little surprised to find out that I needed to give them a photo. So back again today only to find out that my visit constitutes a Humanitarian visa and needed to say that on the invitation. They were nice enough to call the WHR guys in Moscow and arrange for a new invite to be faxed and told me to come back tomorrow. They were actually quite nice to me, but it seems it is not so easy to get a visa for Russia.

First of all it's Friday the 13th. I need to catch up on a few things. Two days ago August 11th was my sister's birthday, so of course Happy Happy Birthday!!!. She just recently had elbow replacement surgery, so I imagine this one was not quite as happy as previous ones. But I am sure she will ultimately be happy with her unusual present of a much better functioning elbow.
Also on that day 2 friends of mine from Serbia came by on their way back from the English Channel, where one helped and the other successfully swam the English Channel. When I was young and growing up in England it was always magical to me to hear that someone had swum the channel. So it was really nice to hear their story of this great feat.
By the way this Friday the 13th is a rainy one here in Ljubljana.
These are some of the White plums at my place in Croatia, in the photo above.

So on Saturday morning I got a ride out to the 3rd stage of the Trans- Slovenia Mountain Edition race where my friend was running. There was some tough mountain running and I got to do some of it with him. I also got to stay in the Youth Hostel where the race ended on Saturday night and where the runners and organizers stayed. On Sunday I got to share the running and helping duties with my friend Milan. The last 30Km or so of the final stage was on the same road as last years classic race so it was familiar to me and I liked the downhill section into Koper.

It is amazing to think that this time last week I was at my place in Croatia and it was raining. Here I am now in Ljubljana and once again it is raining. I was really happy to spend some time there even with the rain, but as you can see from this photo it was quite sunny on the Sunday just before I left. In the photo are my neighbours Vajo and Majca who kept me fed during my visit, though I did buy some supplies from the one store in the village. It is nice to think that I am now adding to the economy of the village where my father was from. OK more to come.

I spent 2 days at my place in Croatia. When I got there it was raining and rained on and off for the first 24 hours I was there. As you can see from this photo I managed to cut down some of the grass and weeds. I eventually removed some of the trees from around the side and back of one end of the old house. It was so nice to sleep in my own house and my neighbours kept me fed by inviting me for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I still have a lot of work to do. I have many white plum trees and gave away many plums during my visit. I had to leave many to be eaten by the birds who seem to love them. It is very peaceful there and the roads are pretty quiet for running on. Over the next few days I will try to post more photo's.

Yesterday was the last hot day this week, the temperature once again was 32C. In the afternoon it rained and everything changed. I had gone into the city in the morning to deliver my coffee sample to the cafe I had visited the day before and was quite exhausted when I got home. By late afternoon there was a strong wind developing and then the thunderstorms came, it was quite refreshing.
This morning it was so much cooler than previous days and as I went out to the 2 mile race I could see that there was rain heading our way. In the middle of the race there was a big downpour.
This is the headstone of my grandparents grave in
Donje Dubrave, Croatia

I had a short meeting this morning with a possible client for my coffee and will return tomorrow with a sample. It is a small organic cafe but could be a nice step forward.
Another hot day here in Ljubljana once again in the low 30's C.

Yesterday I had an express train ride to London and an easy trip across the city to the Stanstead Express, arriving with plenty of time to check in for my flight. My flight to Ljubljana was only 5 minutes late, so not a problem. This morning I woke up to the same hot weather I left behind over the weekend. I am quite happy for this because I did my laundry today and it dried quickly in the hot Sun.

The party for my sister's Ruby Wedding anniversary went really well. I got to see some relatives I had not seen for quite a while and the weather stayed good, it is much cooler than in Slovenia. Managed to get a good run in the morning, nice pleasant country roads.

It is a hot day here in Ljubljana in fact it is supposed to be hot all week with maybe the odd thunder shower later in the week. Friday I will fly to the UK , maybe it will be a little cooler there ;)

This is my barn and as you can see it has a little problem with the roof. I hope to rectify this pretty soon. You can also see that there is a lot of hay in the barn this belongs to my neighbour, actually he cuts my grass and stores it in the barn, it's an arrangement he had with my Aunt and will continue by me.

So I finally got to my place in Donje Dubrave and as you can see it's a little over grown. I got to visit with some of my neighbours, which was interesting since none of them speak English. I manged to understand most of what they were saying to me and to some degree speak back. I plan to go back there for a weekend at the end of the month or beginning of next month. I only spent a little more than half a day there this time, it was really for orientation purposes and gave me an idea for what I need to do next time.
I go to England in 10 days for my sister's wedding anniversary ;)

I am spending a few days in Rijeka, Croatia visiting with family and some friends. also all the paper work involving my place has now been settled and I will be making a visit sometime this week. I will of course take some photo's and hopefully post some of them here. I got to spend an hour or two at the beach yesterday and of course plan to spend more as the week goes by also a chance to swim in the Adriatic for the first time any a few years ;)

In a couple of hours time I will take a train to Rijeka in Croatia. This will be the second time this year that I have gone there, but hopefully this time I will also make a trip to my place in Donje Dubrave, actually I have to make a visit one way or another. There are some things I need to look at there and I need to talk with at least one of my neighbours. I should get the chance for a little beach time and a swim in the Adriatic, which will be nice, so it will be part vacation and part business. Anyway I am looking forward to it ;)

Spent the weekend in Hungary helping a friend of mine run the Ultrabalaton race, a 212km race around lake Balaton. He did great finishing in 26 hours and 15 minutes. I ended up being awake for almost 40 hours.
Lots of things happening for me right now. I just got my resident permit for Slovenia, bought a ticket to London to go to my sister's 40th Wedding anniversary in July and will be going to Croatia in few days to take care of some stuff on my place there ;)

I spent 9 of the last 10 days in Zagreb, where I was helping with a free concert of spiritual music. I also managed to sell some of my coffee while I was there, The weather has been very hot and the Sun quite strong during this period. I also managed to see the England v USA game and was a little disappointed with a 1-1 draw, but in the end 1 point is better than none.
This weekend a friend of mine will be running in the Ultrabalton race, which is a 213 Km race around Lake Balaton in Hungary. Last month he asked me if I would be his handler and I agreed, so I will be in Hungary this weekend.

I was in Zagreb for 3 days. There was a 4 day street festival and on the 3rd day an old friend of mine had organized street drawing I went along with some friends and participated. Check out the little video I made. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f49dw-CX9hA

I have been back from the World Harmony run now for a couple of days and just wanted to post something.
It is always a great experience to participate and this year was quite interesting for me. The International team included an American, a Canadian and a Guatamalan along with the usual Europeans. The run, which is organized mainly by my friend Marjan, can be quite intense at times, but really takes care of the runners. We had some great meetings with lots of schools and such dignitaries as the President of the country and President of the parliament.By the time the week was up many great friendships had been made. Personally after the first few days I had more soreness than usual in my legs, but this improved over the week and the whirlpool and swimming pools in our hotels really helped. In September I get to run in the final leg of the European run which ends in Moscow, which should be quite an experience.

Some news on the coffee front to come shortly.

This week has been quite interesting for me, there has been a lot of back and forth with my coffee roaster in Holland. The label is now done I have now placed an order and we should be getting soon. Oh by the way I don't know if I mentioned it, but to start with we are getting the majority of our coffee roasted for us in Holland. We already have a few customers and will slowly grow the business with a mix of home roasted and Dutch roasted coffee, it's a start and we think a smart start.

So I was in Palic near Subotica, Serbia this weekend, I visited with some friends and spent some time in the Zoo there. I have been to the Zoo a few times. The first time was not long after the embargo on Yugoslavia was lifted and because of which the animals were pretty sparse. Now things are looking much better, the number of animals has increased mostly through new births and I think more people are visiting. I sold my first small amount of roasted coffee and have quite a bit of interest, so we will see how things progress.

After only 4 days back in Slovenia I am off early tomorrow morning to Subotica in Serbia. There is a special event at the Zoo in Palic this weekend and I will be going there with at least 3 of my friends. It's a bit of a drive but it will be worth it. I have some very good friends in Subotica and Palic and it will be nice to see them. I am hoping to run near the lake there, where later this year their will be a 12 and 24 hour race. Hopefully the weather will be good, it seems to be improving here. Anyway, check back for my post on Monday about how things went.

I am alive, I know it may not seem so since I have not been posting for a while, but I am. On April 19 I managed to fly out of Trieste airport to Rome and then on to New York. The airport had been closed for 2 days because of the ash cloud, but opened that day and then apparently closed the next day. I went to NY to run in the 6 day race which started on April 23. It was an interesting experience which I will talk about on my other blog iliketorun, you can get there by going to my profile and clicking on the link at the bottom of the page. When I arrived in NY my bags did not, they were still in Rome and arrived the next day. When I came back on May 4 my bags also stayed in Rome this time they were flown to Munich than to Ljubljana and delivered to me the next day. Which my journey from Trieste to Ljubljana a little easier.
Well now I am in Ljubljana, a little jet lagged and still a little sick from a cold I had developed, but happy to be home.

Sunday I drove with a friend up to Maribor to participate in the last Pohorje winter cup race of the season. It is the 13th race for this edition. This was the 3rd time I participated. With the recent problem I have had with my back and hip I was not sure how I would hold up, but I felt pretty good at the start and the temperature was quite mild. The race started and within the first few minutes my breathing was hard, this is normal and usually settles down after a time, then I lose my legs which also settle down. This time my breathing never got better, I had a problem the whole race, but my legs stayed strong. It was only after I finished and developed a chesty cough that I realized, I had a cold. I was happy that I had a good workout and finished the race. To cap it all off we got free pizza after wards.

Friday the 26th of February was a really rainy day here in Slovenia. I had to walk into the city to get the book for my Slovenian classes, at the Filosofska fakulteta and got quite wet in the process. When I signed up for the course I got a temporary student card and this allows me to get a discount at the school book shop.
In the evening it was the Premier of the Opera/Ballet season in Maribor and a group of us were given free tickets. The opera was Werther by Jules Massenet, which I am sure is a good one, but I have to say I was a little disappointed with the production. It was very sparse, everything was done on an empty stage. It was nice to have a night out though with some friends, so it was pretty cool.

This and a few of the following posts are on a time delay. Well it's just that I meant to write them on the day the things happened, but...
February 25.
Today is the day of my first official Slovenian language class. I was thinking about it all day, I ran early so that I did not have to get in a quick last minute run.
The class consists of 8 people, 2 from China, 2 from Italy, 2 from Finland and 1 from Romania and of course me from England. I am the oldest in the class.
It is a beginners class though most of us have some knowledge of the language.The length of the class is 90 minutes and it went by really fast.We start with the basics and for me it is great that we worked on word structure. It's relaxed group and the teacher admitted that her English is not so great, so while she was correcting my Slovenian I was correcting her English. For which one of the class joked I should get a discount.

Last week a Slovenian friend of mine ran in the Trans Slovenia run Winter edition. It is a 220km run across Slovenia.The original plan was for me to help him for the whole race, but for various reasons that did not work out. On Friday the race came within 3km of my place, so I ran out to meet it. I then ended up running and also getting rides with a helper to the end of the stage. I got to meet some old friends from last years Summer race and then got a ride back to Ljubljana with one of the crew.
On Sunday I took an early train out to Sevnica, where the last stage would start another friend with a car had driven down from Ptuj and together we acted as support for my friend Tomaz. It was only Tomaz's second Ultra race, having previously run a 100km. Out of a field of 34 runners which included 4 women, he finished 9th among the men.

The week as gradually become warmer as it has gone along. My runs in the afternoon have been reasonably pain free, a little after I get home I seem to get some major pain from my sciatic nerve. This goes away eventually and then does not bother me.
After a chat with my business partner ( it was kind of a meeting ), we are looking at different ways for our business to operate and everything is very constructive.
At the moment I seem to like being mobile and will once again be out of town this weekend, well part of Sunday anyway.

I was in Serbia for the weekend. When we left around 7:30 Saturday morning it was snow, When I got back around 1:30 this morning there was quite a lot of snow on the ground and actually up in the trees. Before I left I had some problems with my Sciatic nerve down my right side, as a result I did not run the Half Marathon I had planned to run on Sunday. It turned out that the organizers ( who are friends) needed some help, so I worked on the set up and then did some counting. I made the decision to not run the 2 days I was there and this broke my streak of 5 and a half months. I do feel much better for it and will now resume my running.

OK so it seems the gap between my posts is continuing to be long. I have been back in Slovenia for almost 3 weeks now and quite a lot has gone on. I had a meeting at the Chamber of Commerce and have all the information for starting my business. The plan is to get all the capital together by the end of February and then register the company.
I spent a few days in Croatia, where I got a copy of the transfer of ownership for my place and also had the Electric company put my name on their billing records. I also got to spend a couple of days in Rijeka with some family. Where it was reasonably warm, especially compared to Ljubljana.
On returning to Ljubljana I signed up for the beginners course for Slovenian language at the Uni, the classes start next month.

I was supposed to fly back to Ljubljana non Saturday, but a missed train connection got me in too late to check in. for a small fee I was able to transfer my flight to Sunday. So I spent the day in an hotel near the airport with dinner and breakfast included. No problems with my flight on Sunday, except for a 35 minute delay. I am now back in Slovenia, where there is quite a lot of snow on the ground, but it is not as cold as in the UK.
I must also mention that had he still been alive, some people think he still is. Elvis Presley would have celebrated his 75th Birthday a few days ago and I am sure many of his fans celebrated on his behalf.

OK I realize it's been a while since I posted. So it has been 9 days since I flew over to the UK for the holidays.Though I had to deal with a late start, due to my flight being delayed 2 1/2 hours because of the snow in London. Once I got here everything went really well. I was happy with the train ride and by 8pm I was eating dinner at my sister's house. It was quite cold leading up to Christmas and we even got a little snow on Christmas eve. I enjoy spending some time in the quiet village where my sister and her family live and I will be here for 2 more weeks.

So I decided on Saturday that I would run the Winter Cup race in Pohorje for the second week in a row. I was still a little sore from the last one, but figured that it was just going out in a multiday race. Anyway I stayed at my friend's, who just happens to be the race organizer, on Saturday night. As we left for the race there was a light snow falling, he showed me on his computer that there was snow on the race course. The temperature was also below freezing. There was a big starting field of 173 runners and walkers. Once I got going I did not feel so bad and quickly warmed up. I had changed my shoes from last week to ones with better grip, but once I got onto the steep snow covered slopes I began slipping a lot. In general I felt better when I finished, with a slower time than last week and I have to say that my recovery has been much better.

So at this weeks 2 mile race we had 7 participants. It was once again 2 C though not misty this week, just a little overcast. The Sun did make a brief appearance near the end. I will be out of town for the next 4 weeks and will try to have someone else organize the race while I am away. I am hoping that the field will grow.
Last Sunday I was in Maribor for the second race in this years Winter Cup on Pohorje, it is a 3.8km race up the Pohorje mountain. This is the 3rd year and the field has been steadily growing. There were 155 runners and walkers. The course is a little different each week combining trails and ski slopes. I was a little faster than when I raced in January, but then you cannot compare. I was really tired and quite sore afterwards.

A friend of mine knows the Slovenian composer Alojz Ajdic and got me a free ticket to go see a performance of his work by the Slovenian Philharmonic. It was last night and although it was raining pretty hard I walked the 35 minutes to the concert hall in the city. It has been a long time since I went to a classical concert and it was truly wonderful. 2 pieces were played, a concerto for Piano and Orchestra and his 2nd Symphony. The composer, who is 70 was there and was able to take several bows from a moderately sized audience. I very much enjoyed the evening.

It's been 100 days since I last missed a day of running and since I ran this morning it is now 101. Over the years I have had a few running streaks, the longest being just over 4 1/2 years. I never plan them they just happen and on they go.

As I walked around the city yesterday I noticed a few things; the trees are almost completely bare of leaves. I can remember that at Thanksgiving in New York the last few years there have still been many leaves on trees. I also observe that there seem to be more and more people sitting at the outside cafe's, I don't know but this seems to say to me that people are a bit more comfortable with their finances these days. Maybe it's just me.

Today is November 24 and it would have been my Mother's 81st Birthday. I was thinking of her and wanted to mention it.

Well it ended up being a tiring weekend, I went up to Maribor and on Saturday night went with some friends to Graz. It was almost 2 am when we got home. The next day we went to a place called Cankova which is near the Austrian border and not far from Hungary. There is a small bridge about 5km away that crosses a small stream and it was named a peace bridge a few years ago. There was a nice local ceremony to celebrate the anniversary. I ran with some WHR team members and some local runners to the bridge where we met with another group of WHR runners from Austria and we had a nice ceremony with 2 neighbouring mayors.

When the European Union passed a law banning smoking in Restaurants and such it really hit the coffee shops in Slovenia. The solution was to set up some tables and chairs outside for those who wanted to smoke. Of course this posed a problem when the weather turns cold. So now the coffee shops have propane gas heaters and also provide blankets for the patrons who want to smoke. It seems to work and of course it spawned a whole new business with companies providing the street lamp like heaters.

The seasons in New York are not clearly defined. Over the years I noticed that sometimes we did not seem to have a Spring and December would sometimes have days that were like cool summer days.
Here in Slovenia I can clearly see that there was a change in the middle of October from summer to autumn. Though there are the occasional warmer days they still have that autumnal feel.There is of course the colour change on the tree leaves and the snow on the distant mountains that can be viewed from Ljubljana.

This weekend has been a pretty quiet, stay at home kind of weekend. Yesterday afternoon I spent a lot of my time sitting in front of my computer, check out the live updates on the World Trophy 50k Championships. A friend of mine, Amanda Stickel was participating and for a short time was in second place, eventually fading to 5th place ( she was second American woman). It was her only her second 50k race and first time on the World stage, so she did very well.
For me I got out there this morning and ran in cold and foggy Ljubljana. For her it was hot and humid Gibraltar.

Last night 3 of my friends from Macedonia stopped by on their way to Austria and stayed the night. It was around 10:30pm, but of of them wanted to go walking around the city.So I went out and we got back around 1:30am. Anyway we were up pretty early and they were on their way. Later the guy came to install the cable modem for the internet and now we have high speed internet in the apartment. Next week we will have digital phone. Life is good.

Today one of my partners in my soon to be business told me of 2 options we have to register the business in Slovenia. So with the prospect of getting a roasting machine also soon, things are moving forward. I think it will be in the new year that we will see the fruition of our ideas coming into reality.

Yesterday was the Ljubljana Marathon. I had originally planned to run it, but got sick and thought it better not too. A friend of mine from the Ukraine, Nataliya came to run and it was nice to see her doing well. In fact she finished 10th in the woman's race. It was my first time experiencing this marathon and was quite impressed. It is the 14th edition and I think for the first time they had quite a few African runners. Both the Mans and woman's races were won by Kenyans and both set new course records. Nataliya also set a new personal record of 2:48.

I am back in Ljubljana after almost 3 weeks and the weather is much different than it was when I left. I went out for a run this morning with a full track suite and a warm hat. I noticed right away that I could see my breath and though bright and sunny it was quite fresh. After just a few minutes I realized that my hands were cold and I had not thought to bring gloves. My right calf is bothering me a little, which has been on and off for the last 2 weeks and I was still sore from playing football for an hour on Sunday. All in all I feel quite strong though.

I got a ride yesterday from Belgrade to Zagreb, with some friends. Stayed the night there and caught the early train to Ljubljana. The Croatian border police questioned me about my passport, saying they were concerned about whether the Slovenia border police would give me a hard time.Of course the Slovenians did not bat an eyelid.Maybe the Croatians think England let Ukraine beat them so that they would take second place in the World Cup qualifying group.
It was raining when I got to Ljubljana, but stopped long enough for me to get home. It's quite cold and when I went out for my run this afternoon, I could see that there was snow on the mountains nearby.

I just found out that John Lennon would have been 69 today, if he was still around.
It was a beautiful day in Sarajevo, 25C and I got in a nice run this afternoon. I leave tomorrow morning for Belgrade, where I will be for the weekend.

I am currently in Sarajevo, Bosnia, arriving by bus from Nish, Serbia yesterday. It is quite warm here and I had a nice run from the place where I am staying to the Holiday Inn, which became famous during the war here.
Oh by the way! When I was in Macedonia I accidentally put my Passport in the washing machine. It survived and has got me through 3 borders, but looks a little strange. Fortunately it expires soon, so I will get a new one.

So I have been on the World Harmony Run for the last 2 weeks. It took me into Bosnia, Serbia, Macedonia and Bulgaria. The team changed a few times, but we had good members all the way through.After the first few days we had a break in Belgrade. Where I participated in a 6 hour race and ran the last leg of a 12 hour relay, so I got in some good training.
I am now in Nish Serbia, where I had a meeting with the guy who will make a coffee roasting machine for me. I also got to look at an old machine to see what it will look like. Finally things are moving forward.

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.

There has been quite a lot of rain the last 24 hours and and it has become quite cold for August in New York. This morning it was still raining lightly as we ran the weekly 2 mile race, just 4 days after the marathon. I usually try to run under 16 minutes in these races when I have run a long race just before. So I was happy with my 15:47 especially since I felt quite strong at the end and sprinted the last 200 meters passing a couple of runners before the finish line.

It's one of those rainy days in New York, when you just want to stay home and sleep or at most watch the rain fall outside. I did manage to get a run in early, during a break in the rain.Since I am leaving in a couple of days I actually have a lot to do. So I kind of spent the morning going around trying to find some people I needed to give things to., Since I had a problem with my vegetarian meal on the flight coming, I had to call the airline and confirm that things are ok this time.

It seems my payment for running the Marathon yesterday is a sore left hamstring this morning. I did go out and run a few K's as is normal for me and it made it feel better. Today is going to be another warm one, but it is supposed to be much cooler for the next few days after that. It is hard to believe that I will be back in Slovenia in 5 days time.

I probably have a lot of excuses as to why I ran a 5:07 marathon today, but none of them really matter. I ran it and I still feel pretty good at the end of it.The weather was quite cool to start with and although it got quite hot in the Sun, there was a nice breeze on the first half of the course and that helped a lot. Anyway it's another marathon under my belt.

This afternoon I met an old friend from California who is in New York for a few days and he said I looked like I had aged backwards. Which of course meant that I look younger and that my living in Slovenia is probably the reason. Sometimes we are not conscious of the fact that it is quite stressful in the place you are living in. Plus I think that I am actually happier being back in Europe, though I very much enjoyed my 31 years in New York.

I ran the Saturday morning 2 mile race. It had rained quite heavily during the night and was still raining lightly when the race got underway. There was quite a big field of runners and I firmly planted myself in the middle of them. My time was 15:34 which was in fact 4 seconds faster my race in Ljubljana 2 weeks ago so not too bad. I do of course have a marathon to run in 4 days so it was a nice workout.
Cooler after the rain, but still humid.

This morning it is much cooler, but once I went out for my run I realized that the humidity is quite high, I think that will change as the day goes on. I think I need to adjust to the humidity before the marathon on Tuesday. I got a sample of the coffee that I may be importing from Colombia last night and also talked with someone about maybe getting coffee and speciality teas from Guatemala. So slowly slowly I am making some progress with my business

Yes it is hot and humid here in New York and I must say I did not miss this one bit. I brought my American cell phone with me, but for some reason it will not charge and my battery is now low, so I have to figure something out.Maybe it's unhappy that I took it to Europe ha ha.
Anyway I have a marathon to run in 5 days time and adjusting back to the New York weather is the main priority right now.

It has been an interesting few days for me here in New York. After being away for over 3 months I have come back as a visitor. I do not have a place to live here anymore, so I am staying in a temporary residence that is not far from where I used to live. Of course things are a lot easier since I am familiar with my surroundings.I do however have a different perspective on things now, but it is good to see old friends I do not miss living here

I have been helping my friend Aleksander Arsic on the Trans Slovenia run, he finished 3rd overall. Got back in the evening from Piran where it finished and had to pack for New York. When I have a chance I will write something about the race, but you can check it out on the race site at transslovenia.si. I am now in the airport waiting for an early morning flight to Paris and then New York. Feeling kind of nervous and excited at the same time.

A friend of mine from Belgrade has just arrived. He has come here to run the first Tans Slovenia run. Which will start on Wednesday morning. It is a stage race that will cover 397km in 5 days. I had originally planned to run the race myself, but will now try to help him.
Although it is the first time this race has taken place there will be around 28 runners, with the majority coming from Slovenia, but others coming from as far away as Australia.
I will try to post updates during, or at least a report after the race is over.

I had no internet for a couple of days.
This morning I ran my first 2 mile race in Slovenia. I had not run a 2 mile race since the morning that I left New York. So I was not exactly in race shape. I this kind of situation I usually try to run under 16 minutes.
The race was on a 400 meter red tartan track and there were on 4 runners and my time was 15 minutes 38 seconds. I am happy with that.

In the afternoon I went with a friend to lake Bled and we swam. The water was nice and later we ate Kremsnita, which is a very nice local cake.

It was quite a busy day for me. First I had to run even though I had some kidney pain. I think that I am fighting an infection, but nothing serious. Well I did run for 30+ minutes and it felt good, I think my legs are stronger after going up Mount Triglav a little more than 2 weeks ago.

Later I went shopping for a few more items for my get together. Then it was time to make the pancakes or as they call them here Palacinke. I made half of them filled with Chocolate and half with Apricot jam. I thought they tasted pretty good and 2 of my friends said they tasted good. So there you go.

I bought some nice carnations and picked some wild flowers to compliment them.

Well the thunderstorms came last night and we had some pretty heavy rain this morning. I did get to do some work this morning, but this afternoon has been kind of lazy.

I am going to make pancakes for a weekly get together I go to and will be going out to buy the ingredients and do some early prep'. They will be filled with either chocolate sauce or jam. We will see how it goes, I did not make them for a long time.

A friend of mine in Ljubljana says that it always rains when I come back from Croatia. Well I arrived on the morning train and as I walked out if the station it started to rain. It was only a light shower, but...

I did not get to do everything I wanted in Croatia, but it seems it is holiday season there and it is not so easy to meet with people and there is a lot of traffic on the roads.

I did get in a nice 40 minute run on Saturday afternoon in Jarun, though it was pretty hot and the Sun was strong. I went out early on Sunday morning and ran for 1 hour.

I will be going to Croatia this afternoon, it is just a few hours away by train. First I will go to Zagreb and then plan to go by bus to Karlovac where I have family and some friends. I would like to go see my place in Donje Dubrave, but we will have to see what happens.

3 years ago today I posted a video on Youtube called What a Monster, showing a caterpillar I had found on the street crawling on my hand. Well this video just reached 500,000 views. When I first put it up there I think it had 150 views in the first 3 days, on the 4th daz it suddenly started to get around 1000 an hour. It did eventually slow down, but still seems quite popular, especially with kids in their teens and twentys. Who knew!

The keyboards on computers here have all the English letters, but are set up in a different way. The y and z are switched around. As a result when I am typing fast I write strangely and I post without noticing until later.The weather continues to be nice, if somewhat warm. It kind of reminds me of New York without the humidity. Some of my friends in New York have been asking me how things are going and I think that I am finally finding my way around on my own, which I guess is a big step. Mainly I have to get used to the slower pace here.

I went into the Berlitz Language place here in Ljubljana to inquire about Slovenian classes and they said they only have for individuals and they cost €40. The class is 40 minutes long, so €1 per minute.So I loaded a software programme I bought in New York, for $20 into mu laptop and now I am learning.
I quickly learned a couple of phrases and everyone thinks it's great.
The days here are quite hot, but this week the nights have been cool, so good sleeping weather


This was what I looked at while hiking up to Triglav
Will post a view of the mountain later.

On Saturday I took an early , 6 am bus to Bled where some friends are vacationing for about 10 days. The ride is only about 1 hour 20 minutes. It had rained for about 45 minutes but stopped just before I left to walk to the bus. When I got there it was beautiful. I ran around the lake with my friend Pedja and then had kremsnita for breakfast, this is a very tasty sweet desert.In the afternoon we all went to Bohin another lake and actually hiked up to Slap Savica or Waterfall Savica which I visited back in 1996.After dinner I caught the last bus back, which was at 8.30 and was home by just after 10.After a pretty lazy day on Sunday I am ready to start the new week.Oh yeah it seem the guz I want to get my coffee raosting machine from is on vacation, so have to wait a little longer.

I was supposed to be going to Croatia today and then go to my place in the country, but things fell through and I think I will go next week instead. There is a chance that I will go to Bled instead. It is a beautiful lake resort that I have been to before. If it all works out I will visit with some friends there. It turns out that the place where I can sometimes use internet near my place is called GDS and not hte ministry of commerce.I am now near the river in the city and there is a Mariachi band plying for tourists nearby. Ljubljana is really colourful in the summer season

I have discovered that there is free internet at the Ministry of commerce, which is just 5 minutes walk from where I am staying in Ljubljana. You can even use their computers in the lobby if you want. It has been quite hot here the last few days and the Sun is also strong. I have recovered from my trip to Triglav. I have a feeling that my legs will be very strong after this. I found out that the climb was around 7 km and the elevation was around 1700 meters. So yes it was quite a work out. This weekend I am planning to go see my place in Croatia, I will of course take some photo's and try to post some, check back later.

I have been a little out of touch the last few days. I lost my internet connection, but I have found out that there are WIFI areas around the city that are free. So once again I am back on the air, so to speak.
On Saturday I went with some friends to Bohin, which is a lake in Slovenia and on the river that comes from the lake we went mini rafting. It was a lot of fun and also kinda tiring. We got to spend about 2 hours on the river, with all the equiptment for just €10, which was great.
We stayed in a hostel in Kranks Gora that night and woke up at 4:30 to go to Triglav mountain. That was something special. It took us 4 hours, after a few wrong turns. To reach the moountain house at 2500 meters. I was too tired to go to the summit, which is another 300 meters and after a couple of hours and some pancakes and tea, we went down in 2 hours 50 minutes. I was quite tired and sore when I got home. Neddless to say I slept like a baby.

I am going hiking in the mountains this weekend, so yesterday I went to a place called Giga Sports and got myself a nice pair of hiking shoes. I left a pair that would have been suitable in New York, but they are no good to me there. I found a nice comfortable pair and they cost me €35, they were on sale. It is that time of the year. I will be walking around in them for the next few days so that hopefully I will not have problems with them while walking up mountains.

Last Sunday I was in Split Croatia and ran 1 1/2 hours. During the week I was in Maribor and had runs of 1 hour and 45 minutes. Then I gave a workshop on Meditation in Ptuj, Friday night and Saturday morning, a small group, but it went well. Made it back to Ljubljana tired and happy and slept long.
The weather is so nice and I went out with my friend Milan and we ran through some country trails and by the river Sava. Finding some nice wild plums on the way back, I added them to my muesli.

Raining when I got up this morning, but stopped just before my run. I go to Ptuj this afternoon to do a Meditation workshop. I was supposed to do a telephone interview this morning, but they did not call, so it did not happen. They asked me if they could interview me and set the time. That's just the way it is. I like it here in Maribor, maybe it's the river that makes the difference,

It's raining again now, by the way.

I have moved to the not=rth of Slovenia for the rest of the week. Spending about 3 1/2 days in Maribor and 2 1/2 in Ptuj. It has rained a lot so far but I am making the best of it.
There is a music festival going on here and each night there are many acts performing around the city and mostly near the river side. For me it is a mix of work and recreation.

This is my 1301 st post.

For some years I have wanted to visit Split in Croatia. Well this weekend I finally made it.
Some friends picked me up at around 3 am on Saturday and we were swimming in the Adriatic at 9:30. Then we spent the day sightseeing. It was hot, 33C, but we had a great time. It has also been quite a few years since I got a chance to swim in the Adriatic and I was able to do this both Saturday and Sunday. I really enjoyed my time there and have been invited by a new friend to go visit again. Which I will of course do.
Oh by the way! I did get to run for about 1 1/2 hours in a nice park, with some trails.