June 2008 - Los Cuadernos de Julia

Abilities Discussed

There are certain things that you would not consider as an ability, had it not been for the circumstances in which these things manifested themselves. The ability to swear may not be particularly bad in itself, but to swear in an exam in my times would earn you nothing but a zero mark (and very possibly, a long talk in the headmistress’s room).

I graduated from school in 1997, so it is certainly pleasing to see that in 11 years, in another country things have changed almost dramatically. The Times report that a London pupil answered “f*** off” when asked to describe the room he was sitting in. He gained 2 out of 27 marks, and, in the words of the Chief Examiner, could scored even more. The answer “does show some very basic skills we are looking for – like conveying some meaning and some spelling, …; shows some nominal skills but no relevance to the task. If it had had an exclamation mark it would have got a little bit more because it would have been showing a little bit of skill“.

As much as I am tempted to decry this decision, I also think that it shows some sense of humour on the part of the examiners. And hey, the note on the skill very much pleases my inner Oscar Wilde. You should only swear when you’ve got no other words left to use – and you should do so in good taste, that is, conveying the full range of thought and emotion involved. In short, don’t just mumble a swearing word – exclaim it!

Speaking of abilities… “Ability” is synonymous to “gift”. We heard earlier about Prince William receiving his RAF Wings, and now, following the reports about the cost of his helicopter flights, the MoD asserted that Flying Officer Wales “displayed natural flying ability“. I can’t help but noting this because “a natural flying ability”, instead of highlighting William’s skill, may rather be interpreted as that we may be in for more chopper flights expenses – for how can you possibly restrict anyone in expressing their natural gift?? Some can argue that monarchy, in the end, is about the ability to spend (or to distribute and receive gifts). However, in the age of taxpayers’ carefully counting every penny, monarchy will have to be about smart spending – and by the sound of the media reaction, “natural flying ability” may be too expensive. This is not to say that this ability should not be; but I think the MoD could certainly convey their meaning better.

Albert Sq, Manchester

I once said jokingly that, when you live in Manchester, you may never need to visit London. You’ve got Pall Mall, Albert Sq, Oxford St (albeit the latter is probably four times as short as the London’s Shopping Mile). Instead of Piccadilly Circus there are Piccadilly Gardens. Last year I discovered Corner House somewhere in Kensington, comparing to which Manchester’s Cornerhouse is a very welcome substitute. In short, although never visiting the capital may not be particularly good, you should not feel too distressed, at least as far as the place names are concerned.

However, as I was recently going through some of the archived photos I found several pictures of Manchester’s Albert Square, which I just wanted to share. The black-and-white picture you might already have seen a year ago: it was taken in 2007 with my cameraphone. The colour pictures all date back to 2002 when I first visited Manchester, and England. On my memory in 2002, in spite of the Commonwealth Games, and even in 2003 (and maybe even in 2004) Albert Sq was not used so extensively to host diverse and sundry bazaars, live events and even political meetings. I cannot say if this is for the good or for the bad as my main concern is the effect of the multitudes of people and machinery on the historic landmarks. Then, of course, instead of peaceful bazaars and meetings we could have a revolution, and the effect would be completely unpredictable.

Reporting Numbers in the Press: A Perspective

It seems that I keep remembering the pearls from George Mikes’s How to be an Alien. But how can I avoid doing so, when I get to see the screen shot of a story on CNN’s website? The story is not dissimilar to the one we had in the British news some time ago, about the severed female body remains found on the Scottish coast. The screen shot highlighted the inappropriate use of contextual advertising: the story is about severed feet being regularly found on the Canadian coast, so we get an ad for PutYourFeetUp, a house-moving company. I have just checked the site, but have not found the banner there, so I didn’t include the image of a screen shot in my post.

The CNN story is rather gruesome: for 11 months people in the town of Campbell River on Vancouver Island in British Columbia have been finding severed feet. The latest – 6th in number – has turned up in a shoe, the police report, and it can take weeks, if not months, to use DNA science to identify the body parts.

It was when I looked at the story highlights that I recalled the chapter “Journalism, or The Freedom of the Press” from Mikes’s bestseller. In the chapter, Mikes parodies the style of the 1930s-40s English tabloids, to showcase how a story of the rebellion on a remote island would be covered in the press. The fact he takes as a premise is that of a rebellion which was successfully put down, and 217 rebels were held captive during the island raid. The Times, in Mikes’s parody, would report on the number of captured rebels in the following way:

“The number of revolutionaries captured cannot be safely stated, but it seems likely that the number is well over 216 but well under 218.“

In the CNN story, despite the title “Sixth severed foot surfaces off Canadian coast”, the highlights read:

“At least five other feet since August that have surfaced off Canadian shore” (my bolding – JD).

It looks like that when it comes to reporting numbers in the press, countries and time truly don’t matter.

Is It Time To Learn German And Move To The Continent?

Last week I was contacted by a reader who has been living in Vienna, Austria, for a number of years and is “loving it”. Not that I didn’t take him seriously, but, having just read a Business Week article about the World’s Best Places to Live 2008, I wonder if he actually made the right choice, and whether more of us should follow in his footsteps.

Vienna

According to the survey, the top best city to live is Zurich, Switzerland, which also came at no. 1 in 2007. It is followed by Vienna, Austria, which was no. 3 in 2007. There seems to be an interesting competition here between the two cities, considering that their Mercer indexes stand very close: 108 for Zurich and 107.9 for Vienna. The life expectancy in both cities is over and just below 80 years for Zurich and Vienna, respectively.

Melbourne

The cities are ranked against New York, which rank is taken as 100. The comment from Mercer about the actual life in these cities hints at the inherent difference between nice life and pleasure. “Mercer acknowledges that cities with a high quality of life are not necessarily the most exciting. “There are a lot of ‘sleepy’ towns that got high ratings,” said Rebecca Powers, a principal consultant in human capital for the company. “But if you were to judge them on something like nightlife, there are some that probably wouldn’t have rated as high.””

So, the list (which you can view and read in Business Week’s slide show, if you follow the link above) goes, as follows:

1. Zurich, Switzerland
2. Vienna, Austria
3. Geneva, Switzerland
4. Vancouver, Canada
5. Auckland, New Zealand
6. Dusseldorf, Germany
7. Munich, Germany
8. Frankfurt, Germany
9. Bern, Switzerland
10. Sydney, Australia
11. Copenhagen, Denmark
12. Wellington, New Zealand
13. Amsterdam, Netherlands
14. Brussels, Belgium
15. Toronto, Canada
16. Berlin, Germany
17. Melbourne, Australia
18. Luxembourg, Luxembourg
19. Ottawa, Canada
20. Stockholm, Sweden
28. Honolulu, USA

Just a glance over the list will explain why in the title of my blog post I asked, if it may be the time to learn (or to brush) our German and think of exploring the Germanic countries. German is the official language in 7 countries out of the first 10, and, bearing in mind it is one of the world’s most spoken languages, it makes every sense to think of picking it up.

Zurich

Prague

However, the story is different when we look at Business Week’s report on Europe’s Best Cities for Business for 2007. This gives us a further insight into whether it is possible to find all that life can offer in a single city. Zurich comes at no. 13, and the first three places are occupied, respectively, by London, Paris and Frankfurt – of these, only Frankfurt is in the first 10 of Best Cities to Live in 2008. Neither London or Paris were even in the first 20 in 2007.

This makes you think again if the German language course should be on your “to-do” list for the near future.

Manchester

Still, where business is concerned, I and all of my Mancunian readers, friends and acquaintances, we live in a very promising city. As Business Week notes, “Manchester, which jumped from 21st to 18th place in the rankings, has opened a business center called Spinningfields that boasts 30% to 40% lower property and labor costs than larger agglomerations such as London’s Canary Wharf and Paris’s La Défense. The northern English city is now encircled by fiber optic cables for a “broadband capacity that’s unthinkable in most other places,” says Colin Sinclair, who heads Manchester’s economic development agency”.

“The Bank of New York (BK), Credit Suisse (CS), Yahoo! (YHOO), and Google (GOOG) all have opened new operations in Manchester. And the BBC plans to move more than a quarter of its staff there in 2011 when a new riverfront media center is scheduled to open”.

The last phrase is obviously puzzling, not only because BBC Manchester has for a number of years been a creative hub for all things BBC, but also because the staff have been relocating to Manchester and farther to Salford for a couple of years now.

Last but not least, Moscow, my native city, gives many a promise (although it’s not in the Top 20): “Moscow, another pricey metropolis, attracts business because it’s the hub of a fast-growing market. Of the 500 companies surveyed, 63 had plans to open offices, manufacturing sites, or retail outlets in the Russian capital within the next five years—more than in any other European city”.

Europe’s Best Cities For Business (according to Business Week):

1. London
2. Paris
3. Frankfurt
4. Barcelona
5. Amsterdam
6. Brussels
7. Madrid
8. Berlin
9. Munich
10. Milan
11. Dublin
12. Geneva
13. Zurich
14. Prague
15. Lisbon
16. Dusseldorf
17. Lyon
18. Manchester
19. Warsaw
20. Hamburg

Still, even this list is strongly influenced by the German-speaking countries and cities. I used to study German at the University. The state of my German after nearly 5 years in Manchester has become pretty poor. Nonetheless, I am happy to revise it, if only to make travelling more enjoyable and insightful. Where Russian is concerned, I am able to use it in a variety of ways, not only for creative writing, but also as a translator/interpreter. I guess, if I am to follow the Business Week findings in any way, I should brush my German and move to live on the Continent (to use George Mikes’s euphemism for describing the part of the Europe that isn’t England). But we’ll see. So far I am happy in Manchester.

All images in the post are courtesy of Business Week.

Altrincham: Shady Streets, Italian Sopranos, and Tiramisu

I do love strolling little known streets and taking ad hoc trips to unknown places. Living close to what they call “transport links” makes a huge difference, as well. When you only need to walk 3 min. to the place where there will be trams, buses, taxis and even trains you do feel like you’re almost obliged to travel. All the better for me, as you may guess.

So, on Saturday I was waiting for a home delivery, which was not delivered due to the store’s not supplying my full address. With the bookcase assembly then being postponed, I wandered around the flat for a short time, before deciding to go to Altrincham.

I’ve never been to Altrincham before – except for a short visit in 2005. I was a BBC’s People’s War story gatherer, and on that day we were meeting the war veterans during the annual Flower Show at Tatton Park. A free bus service operated between Altrincham and Tatton Park, so I took a tram from St Peter’s Square. I had a glimpse at Altrincham’s buildings while on the bus, but it took me three years to get to walk in the town’s streets.

On Saturday afternoon the town looked and felt deserted. I recalled a visit to the old Russian city of Vladimir: I went with a group of friends during the weekend, and although the trains were fairly busy, the city was silent and calm. Altrincham was very much the same, except for its silence was almost magical. I also remembered a short stay at the Shap Wells Hotel, “ideally situated to explore the English Lakes, Yorkshire Dales, North Pennines and the Scottish Borders”. The silence was nearly deafening for a convinced city dweller. Likewise, in Altrincham I caught myself on a thought that I could probably stay in one of its houses over a weekend, but I would hardly be able to live there.

While they commonly say that Russia (or Moscow, for that matter) is a place of extremes, it isn’t quite true where parks are concerned. Like London, Moscow boasts many a leafy public garden, park, and even Botanical Gardens – if you follow this link to Moscow.info page, you’ll find out that there are 5 such Gardens in Moscow alone. From where I lived in Moscow it would take me to travel literally to the other end of the city to visit the main Botanical Garden – and indeed, it would take more time than even to travel from Manchester to Tatton Park (assuming that you live in the city centre). I suppose what makes the difference (or what makes me feel the difference) is that in Moscow (or London) I could experience the leafy shade, smell flowers and marvel at the many shapes and colours of the trees without leaving the city, whereas in Manchester I have to hop on a tram or bus to go to what is effectively another town. In case with Altrincham, the town is already in another county (Cheshire). So, as far as parks and gardens are concerned, capital cities seem to be the places that blend the urban lifestyle with suburban setting. Perhaps for me, if Manchester wanted to do something to its city, it would be parks and gardens rather than a casino.

My wandering around Altrincham was fairly short, although I successfully added a few streetlights for my growing collection. You can see all the photos I took on the day in Altrincham Flickr photoset. Then I thought it would be a shame to leave such a lovely town without dining there. In the street where I walked there were a few Far Eastern eateries, but it’s becoming more and more of a commonplace to go to such places, so I wanted something different. Noticing an invitingly looking passage to Kings Court was a good start. Don’t get me wrong now, to go to an Italian restaurant is also a commonplace, since too many people appear to like Italian cuisine. But I couldn’t resist walking into The Sopranos. I was sat at exactly the table you see in the picture on the left, and I had a delicious fried goat cheese for starter, and then a breast of duck in cherry sauce, with a glass of wonderful full-bodied Chianti.

And then Sopranos became the first ever place in my life where I had two desserts. At the end of the meal I had a single espresso and a tiramisu… and this was the best tiramisu on my memory! I was trying in vain to prolong the pleasure, but it was next to impossible, thus eventually I had to double it, by ordering another portion of dessert.

There was something lovely about being called “signora”, and talking to Giorgio the chef about his long walk in Tatton Park, and then listening to the chef’s humming to himself, and then to the Italian music. Just as I was leaving, “Solo Tu” by Matia Bazar came on, which I was able to recognise because I have already seen the embedded clip on YouTube. A weekend trip to Altrincham became an unforgettable tree-gazing, tiramisu-tasting, Italian-feeling affair – something I would certainly love to relive one day.