Wu Wei

The Cowley Road gentrification -- is it a bad thing?

For those of you not well up on the current debate about this really important issue, you might like to go here, with an extract:

Town and gown have always been uneasy neighbours in Oxford. On Broad Street it is hard to stick out a foot without tripping up a student or a tourist. In the suburbs the university’s influence is scarcely felt. Then there are the borders, where the two spheres of existence collide. One such frontline territory is the Cowley Road. Once a distinctly downmarket area, recent years have seen it becoming increasingly gentrified.

Or here.  Or you can join the group   on Facebook, which says: 

Let's declare war on the 'Jericho is better' separatists.

Jericho is a smarter part of Oxford (too expensive for students, except for the very rich).

The latest issue is whether we should all boycott Costa Coffee.  For really incisive arguments try here.

Hey, but isn't the reason for boycotting Costa on Cowley Road because there is better coffee (not to mention cheaper) and nicer places to sit than this tarted up bank.  On both of the occasions I came in, a creepy manager appeared from lurking somewhere in the back and asked me what I wanted.  The first time I was looking for somewhere with wireless.  As they didn't have it, they immediately lost my custom.  The second time, I wanted to sit down with my Economist and drink my coffee.  Surely you don't need permission to sit down in a cafe.  Even the Hotel Majestic (see here and here) has notices telling you first, what you're not allowed to do.

Technorati tags: Cowley Rd, Oxford, Costa coffee, gentrification

Russky Tsar in Belgrade

We were all set to make a recommendation yesterday about this restaurant.

It's in a row full of cafes so it was hard to spot whether it had food or just drinks and ice-creams but we eventually spotted a menu, so we had lunch. I had a salad with chicken, rucola, walnuts, avocado and morello cherries.  There was lots of rucola, plenty of  everything else and not very much mayonnaise (clearly not very authentic for a Russian restaurant). I'm not sure whether the morello cherries were a good idea but were better than beetroot for the same effect of turning the avocado purple.  My colleague had a salad with chicken, pine nuts, thinly sliced pears and gorgonzola.  Again adequate quantities but not much mayonnaise.  The bread seemed home made and still warm. 

The waiters were dressed in mock Russian costume with the high collar blouse with coloured braiding off-centre down the front.  The waitresses, who were only allowed to sell ice-cream, were got up in those funny tiara style hats, with rustic smock dresses that looked like maternity gear, mostly in red.  Why anyone would want a waitress job in the place is not clear.

On the whole we were favourably impressed as it wasn't expensive, and had nice outdoor tables near a not too noisy square.  We made fools of ourselves complaining there were no spoons with our coffee, only to be shamed by the waiter who pointed out that the plastic stirrers were wrapped in an identical way to the sugar.  If it bends, it's sugar,  OK?  We made fools of ourselves a second time by having to count out  our last dinar for the bill and still hadn't enough.  So I dashed to the hole in the wall round the corner.

After all that we were definitely remembered today, when we decided to come back for more salads.  After ordering the same as yesterday but the other way round, we sat back in the sun looking forward to our lunch.  After 10 minutes (he had to search the complete kitchen, maybe) the waiter came back to apologise that if we wanted those salads we would have to wait 20 minutes, but we could have Greek salad immediately.  Did we have a choice?  An earlier lunch when our other colleague had ordered plum dumplings (also in only 20 minutes) which came after 40 minutes had already taught us how long we might have to wait.  So we settled for Greek salad which was really big and really good, with more fresh bread.  Nevertheless, what sort of restaurant doesn't have supplies of salad for lunch?  It's true that from our observations, most Serbs can't afford to eat out and content themselves with a drink or two, or maybe ice-cream.  But this is in a prime tourist area.

So we can recommend Russky Tsar on a Wednesday but not on a Thursday.   We may not be able to report on other days.

Technorati tags: Belgrade restaurants

Hotel Majestic continued

This morning I managed to sneak out a peach in my handbag past the breakfast police of the Majestic Hotel (see yesterday).  I can't say this was much achievement as the choice of fruit was not great by 8.30 and I got the  rock-hard peach rejected by everyone else.

Still, a successful smuggle gives some satisfaction.  Otherwise, if challenged, I was planning to bite the fruit and then hand it back to the waiter, since eating in the dining room is not yet forbidden.  My French colleague confessed she had also planned this manoeuvre if challenged.

Currently our day is brightened by such small successes, as we try to duck the EU bullets being exchanged about our work, and wrestle with the wireless offerings to get on the internet.  In the hotel, there is a choice of 4 secure channels which work intermittently and numerous unsecured, including the interesting HotelMajesticHackedbyRAFCrew, none of which work. 

Technorati tags: breakfast, Belgrade hotels, Hotel Majestic

Stealing an apple in the Hotel Majestic, Belgrade

Copydude is telling us how the Kaliningrad hospitality industry is not quite adjusted from its Soviet style, and has not understood the power of the blog in spreading reputations.

Ditto our Yugoslav hotel.  In the interest of improvement, I shall name and shame them.  At breakfast I was accused of stealing an apple as I took it out with me.  The waiter pointed to the notice telling you not to take out food from the dining room.  I assumed this meant they did not want you to take out plates and cutlery.  But no, stealing an apple is a crime in the Hotel Majestic. 

My colleague who had concealed her peach in her handbag, was rather smug.  I have not reported her.

Technorati tags: Hotel Majestic, Belgrade hotels

Greek Forest Fires

CNN last night was busy discussing the motives behind the arsonists who are now being blamed for the forest fires, as if they were just madmen.  I was amazed.  I'm sorry to be cynical but forest fires have been a regular feature of summer in Greece.  Whilst the dry weather and the August meltemi wind obviously play a part, but there are other factors at work, as you can see from this post I made when we were still living in Athens.

Fires round Athens were always claimed to be started by arsonists paid by developers who wanted to clear land for building.  It was hard for them to get planning permission in some areas, so a bit of forest clearing could produce more land.  Although the government was always promising that building would not be allowed and trees would be replaces, somehow it has never happened.

Clearly forest fires on the scale of those shown on the satellite photos cannot all be caused by arson, or at least were not intended on that scale and have gone badly astray.  But the result will probably be the same in the areas where  land for building is in short supply.

Technorati tags: Greece, forest fires, arson

Eats shoots and leaves, plus earth and moon

Armed with two new guide books we wandered in a new direction this evening in search of dinner.  We settled on a Chinese restaurant which figured in both.  Alas we should have known better.  Although the menu was large and the prices were low, the food was not good.  When the waiter asked whether I liked my seaweed salad, I answered honestly that it tasted like a strange sort of pickled red cabbage.  Both my colleagues agreed that seaweed should be green and crisp but we were told firmly that by the waiter (aged all of about 20), that we were wrong and it was genuine Chinese seaweed.  China was a very big country, bigger than Europe and by implication there was more than one way to cook seaweed.  My colleagues did better with their hot and sour soup.

After that, my chicken and bamboo shoots also got the thumbs down.  That was it, lumps of chicken (boiled) with about three slices of bamboo shoot, lying in a monosodium glutamate sauce.  if you fished around  you found some tiny slivers of green, eventually identified as leek.  The tofu was more colourful but not much better in taste. Our waiter was a masochist and asked for another opinion.  When we asked where was the colour and the other vegetables, he implied that chicken and bamboo shoots was just that.  But he said this was the best Chinese restaurant in town. 

We asked where the Chinese quarter was and were told in New Belgrade, obviously some way away.  My idea was to go and see where the Chinese themselves ate, thinking of the Paddyfields in Oxford, advertised as "the place Chinese people themselves eat"  It's my current favourite, especially as it does dim sum.  The waiter dismissed this as the Chinese were a dirty people and one shouldn't go there.  At that point, the ugly head of racism reared up and we stopped the conversation.  It was sickening, particularly as we suspected that he had probably never even been near the area and was probably just going on prejudiced rumour.

For a change of mood we went off to see the "Earth from the Air" exhibition which was showing in the park near Kalemegdan.  It's a fantastic exhibition of large photos in the open air, so you can see them from a distance (as from the air) and then go closer to see the detail and read the captions.  Although I saw the exhibition first in Copenhagen and London (when we bought the book and the t-shirts) there was still a lot to look at and some new photos as well (from the tsunami damage).  There was even one showing a graveyard of Iraqi tanks which had been destroyed by depleted uranium bombs in the First Gulf War and now were a repository of toxic and radioactive waste.  But didn't they try to tell us depleted uranium was quite safe in Bosnia?

Finally on the way home we noticed there was a fantastic full moon, with the first full scale halo I can remember ever seeing.  At least I thought it was a halo, but now I've looked it up it seems it was a corona.  You can see the difference here.  This is what I saw:

Technorati tags: The Earth from the Air, Chinese food, moon corona

The latest from Belgrade

The temperature in Belgrade is a bit more acceptable a) than it was last time (42) and b)than it has been since then (15).  Around 30 is just comfortable.

My Italian colleague was wondering whether he had made a mistake changing his room to a view over the square when he found himself listening to a lot of shouting and singing.  We went down to dinner and found half a dozen police watching over the perpetrator.  After speculating about political demonstrations, or a Karadzic supporters club, and despite not recognising any of the songs,  I spotted one of them had a Celtic t-shirt and all became clear.  It seems that (Glasgow) Rangers are playing Belgrade (or more accurately Crvena Zvezda) on Wednesday. I wonder who the Celtic guy is supporting?

Technorati tags: Belgrade, football, Rangers, Celtic

Thessaloniki and Halkidiki

This is what passed for my summer holiday, at the end of July, though I was really working, before we went to Belgrade.

Didn't do much better with the photos in Thessaloniki either.   

For its history Salonica, by Mark Mazower,  is excellent.  He traces its fascinating cosmopolitan life with Christians, Muslims and Jews, which ended with the Second World War. It is now a largely Greek Orthodox city, in more ways than just religion. Since the war and its repopulation with Greeks, it has become much like other Greek cities with huge areas of concrete blocks of flats. In fact, on her first visit, Bee dismissed it as yet another Eastern European city. 

In the main square,  we snapped these pigeons, reduced by the heatwave to sitting in the shadow of a lamp post in the main square.  No frappe for them.

 Here are some pictures of the White Tower, one of the few historical sights left, a statue of Alexander the Great (that well-known Macedonian) and a rather different Aghia Sophia.

 

   

The boats which tour the bay in the evening, and Macedonian heroes and gun carrying heroines.  The war casts a long shadow, still. 

     

 

 

 

We went to Toroni at the weekend: a quiet village in the middle prong of Halkidiki populated only by a few Greek holiday makers and us. 

Absolute bliss.  Not too hot (around 35 not 40), good food, free sunbed and umbrella if you bought a drink in the cafe; and perfect beach: sand with a slow dip into the sea.  My balance is bad on pebbles and rocks so I hate that wobble into the sea that I usually get.  Thoroughly recommended.

Technorati tags: Halkidiki, Thessaloniki, Salonica

 

Privatisation of Russian railways?

I thought the mention of Putin thinking of privatising Russian railways must have been a misunderstanding when I first saw it in a BBC correspondent's discussion of the changes in railways in Eastern Europe here.  So I googled and found there is actually a presidential decree on it, and a PhD student studying its effect on a Fulbright scholarship.  However according to this article the decree dates from 2003 with a first phase of privatisation due for 2004-6.  It's not clear what sort of privatisation was intended, or whether anything actually happened.  Another article claims that in 2005, Russian railways would raise money through the bond market. What sort of investors could he have had in mind?  Might be better to bring back Mussolini.

Doesn't sound much in line with Putin's current policies.  But exactly when and why did he change his mind?  That sounds like a better PhD topic which I am sure people are already working on.

Technorati tags: Russian railways, privatisation

Changes in the Wu household

My moving situation seems to be causing confusion.  Let me reassure you, it is confusing to us as well. 

Sloph has moved out, to be grown-up in her final year at university. Follow this part of the story carefully.

Bee and I have downsized to a new house unfortunately not available till mid-October, due to its needing a new roof.  We did try to find something available now, but failed.  Very stringent requirements by Bee (as she would be the main occupant) made it difficult (had to be in the same area, without longer walk to school, near friend with reasonable parents in case of emergency and mother out of country, but not near friend with parents who would worry about mother out of country).  Combined with my requirements, this narrowed the choice down rather a lot.  However, the result, though late, is opposite a sensible friend and near the gym and swimming pool as well as just off the famous Cowley Road (which now has its own Group on Facebook here) with 2 minute access to all the ethnic restaurants plus the Zodiac (see her blog here for music reviews).  What more could you want?  Actually it's in the street where Sloph was living when we first came back to England, where I swore I would never live.  But she was living in a student slum and we are not.

Consequently we have to camp in the meantime.  This is fine for me, since I am travelling round the Balkans between now and mid-November in any case, see map here. 

Luckily, Sloph found an unfurnished house in the same road as before, which she is sharing with two guys who even more luckily are not moving in immediately.  So we schlepped all our essential living stuff down the road to her new house, and as she moved out, we moved in temporarily.  I can record that the youth of today is more exhausted by moving than old age. 

There I have been providing useful motherly services:  providing equipment and furniture for the kitchen, (no point in putting it in storage), general unpacking, cooking and shopping, probably the most motherly stuff I have done for years :).   Also staying at home waiting for flatmate's bed to be delivered, and washing machine to be installed.  So far the score, on the third day, is one mattress, delivered separately from the rest of the the bed (for reasons unknown) one day late due to incorrect postcode, and no washing machine.  As a result, I now know flatmate marginally better than Sloph, who finds herself wondering whether she has really moved out at all.  Sloph in the meantime is providing full time medical secretary duties to the health service to fund her trip to Singapore before term starts, coming home depressed after typing letters about people with incurable diseases wanting treatment that the NHS won't provide.

Nibbles the cat has explored her new garden and has moved on to the neighbours'.  We are hoping that she does not wander so far that she recognises her old territory and gets confused.  However she does come when called (eventually) and has already worked out how to winge for the door to be opened to come in.  Since she has been with us on all our travels round Europe plus a few extra staging posts on the way, she is pretty adaptable.  No need to put butter on her paws or whatever you are supposed to do. This could be famous last words.

Last night, to celebrate surviving part 1 of the move and a big cheque finally arriving,  we went to the Kazbar, (Cowley Rd again) where we had excellent tapas in the Moroccan/Spanish themed dining area at the back.  Give the conservatory area in the front a miss, unless you want to just drink or enjoy loud music, and eat in the shadowy back.  Forgot to take any photos, and can't find any on the web.  Such a shame. 

This weekend has a general exodus: Sloph is off to Brussels to meet friend from Vilnius before she moves to Warsaw with boyfriend; Bee is off for mud and  the joys of Reading Festival (looking like a packhorse/snail with a complete home on her back) to celebrate excellent GCSE exam results; and me off to Belgrade for work.  Only the cat left at home.

Technorati tags: Cowley Rd, Kazbar, moving house, cat moving house