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It’s half eleven on Wednesday evening and I just returned to Worcester from Belgium where I attended a Microsoft round table event with some other A.T. developers and some EU dignitaries.

When I got home I found a message on my voice mail from a bloke who works for Preston FM which is a small community radio station based near where I used to live. As someone who lived in Preston for 8 years and then went off to make an arse of himself in the A.T. industry, yours truely is apparently interesting enough to be invited for an interview this coming weekend on Preston FM!

Anyway, it’s nice to be asked, and being as I’m clearly a shrinking violet I called him bakc and I’ll be on FM in Preston this coming Saturday afternoon from 4PM. They’re on the net at Preston.FM and this is the link to Listen Life to Preston FM.

Stay tuned to this blog for the very latest news of all my future media appearances!

Thanks to my good friend Del from the Valleys for forwarding this. It definitely made me giggle. Hope it does you too. A fast connection recommended!

I am not one of the Archers faithful, although I found this piece in the Independent pretty fascinating.

Not much one can say about this which has not already been said.

It is almost a week since I arrived in Vienna. And in that time I have played two games of chess with my father. Won one and lost one. I have now cycled 82KM. And providing my legs do not fall off first, reaching the 100KM mark before I return to the UK tomorrow evening is not beyond the realm of possibility.

I have insufficient vocabulary to describe the performance at the Vienna State Opera which I attended last Tuesday evening. mesmerizing, emotional, breathtaking, are all words which come to mind. The sheer logistical effort required to bring together orchestral music, vocals, theatre, visual art and in some cases ballet is in itself extraordinary. This was a spectacular way to loose my opera virginity! And while the operatunity is here I will be trying to get a ticket for Carmon this evening.

As 2006 is Mozart’s 250th anniversary it was quite fitting that on Wednesday I visited the Vienna Concert House to hear selections of the classical composer’s work. The star attraction was Simon Rattle’s girlfriend (her name escapes me) who performed a couple of numbers from Figaro. Mozart does not really do it for me baby. So the highlight for me was the hugely energetic House of the Devil by Boccherini?

On Thursday we witnessed a curious interpretation of the poems of William Blake. Klettenheimers is a small café run by a couple who not only make the sandwiches and tend the bar, but also stage the performances. The poems were set to music, with each song followed by contemporary monologs from larger than life characters all performed by our hostess.

On Friday I spent several hours exploring the Vienna House of Music. As well as the expected exhibitions of artifacts commemorating the greats of classical music who spent time in Vienna, the likes of: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Shubert, Marla etc. The House of Music features a number of interactive attractions not least of which is the virtual orchestra displayed on a large screen. Visitors are invited to take up the batten and attempt to conduct this unruly mass. The virtual orchestra have absolutely no compunction about downing their instruments and complaining loudly if they do not think you are up to the task. This happened to me half way through a Radetski march before a precocious little girl showed up to show everyone how it should be done!

Friday evening my father and I spend at Jazzland where the 17 piece Stanton Big Band had an enthusiastic audience clapping and cheering long into the night.

Saturday we visited an elderly relative in Eisenstadt which is a small Austrian town near the
Austro-Hungarian border. Apparently the Eisenstadt soccer team have lost 12 out of their first 13 games this season!

It is now Sunday afternoon and I am back in Vienna. This time tomorrow I will be about to start my journey back to Worcester and work on Tuesday morning.

Very many thanks to everyone in Austria who have made my stay an enjoyable one. Vienna has so much to offer culturally and a week is barely enough time to scratch the surface. I have appreciated the break from work, and am now ready to return home.

My Austrian Airlines flight from Heathrow landed in Vienna around fifteen minutes after six on Monday evening and by twenty-five to seven I was aboard a train heading into the city centre. Fourty-eight hours earlier Austrian Airlines was subjected to a fake bomb threat by a drunk German man who managed to force a Frankfurt bound service to return to the Austrian capital. However, all was quiet in Vienna on Monday evening.

This morning I ate porridge, managed 15KM on an exercise bike, spent an hour playing piano, read some news, and enjoyed some space to think.

All being well, this evening I hope to attend my first full-on opera! I do not claim to be a connoisseur of the art form, but the chance to attend a performance of Verdi’s Rigoletto at the Vienna State Opera is a fantastic opportunity not to be missed!