Categories
Travels

A Trip to Iceland – The Golden Circle

An early start the second day, well 8:30am. We are to go on a 10 hour tour called the Golden Circle in a super jeep, to see some of Iceland’s natural phenomena.

The tour operator’s have these tours really well organised. Mini buses pick-up clients from individual hotels and take them to a central tour bus depot, where payments are made and the clients transfered to larger buses.

Three super jeeps, each with about eight people set off from Reykjavik, transit vans modified with big wheels.

Super jeeps on Langjökull glacier

Our first stop-off was a two hour journey to the Langjökull glacier. We certainly needed a four wheel drive as we left the tarmac roads, taking a lava track road, up towards the glacier.

We were told how the Langjökull glacier was receding, especially over the past five years, something the driver of our super jeep had noticed himself, and he predicted that not so far in the future the glacier will disappear completely.

As we climbed, the track got rougher, with deep tracks to negotiate, and we entered the snow band. It was surprising to see small lakes in the ice flow, so blue.

On the Langjökull glacier

On arrival, we were issued with a crash helmet, and a jumpsuit or thick overalls to place over our own thick clothes, I felt like Michelin man. But I was warm. Very warm.

After a short introduction to safety and how to ride and control a snowmobile, we set off one behind the other, up and onto the glacier, for one hour of freezing exhilaration. The flat ice of the glacier melted into the sky, and I became mesmerised by the singular white landscape racing past me, as I tried to keep the snowmobile riding in a straight line. Of cause it did, it just felt very strange, as I used to ride scooters or motorbikes, or bikes, as you turn a corner you lean the machine. Not with a snowmobile.

From the glacier, we traveled down to the Gullfoss waterfall, where the glacier waters fall producing a spray that freezes on the fences in long icicles, and feels extremely cold on the face.

Gullfoss Waterfall

Again, frozen to the bone, we boarded the super jeep for our next destination, the world renowned geothermal area around Geysir hot spring. As we approached the area, steam rose into the sky like smoke from chimneys.

We were warned not to place our hands in the water to test the temperature as it was very hot (100 degrees C). Obviously, some people did not hear this warning as I noticed more than one person test the water, only to pull the hand away quickly. Boiling.

Pools of hot water steamed from the hot springs, heated by the inner earth, rock heated by magma, the water overflowed and ran down to Geysir itself.

Geysir, Iceland

Here was a hole in the ground, and hot water flowed down into it, filling it to the rim. Every few minutes a great gush and a column of hot water shot into the air, showering unsuspecting visitors who walked downwind.

Leaving the warmth of the Geysir hot springs we entered the Thingvellir national park, where two tectonic plates, the American and Eurasian, are slowly drifting apart and the oldest parliament in the world was founded in 930 by the Vikings.

This is where our guide on the Northern Lights tour had told us about the fissures, enough to swallow a man. When we walked into the area the bus had parked the previous evening, it was a big tarmacked car park, and not a crack to be seen.

Oh how our minds can build mountains from mole hills.

The great wall of the American tectonic plate rose above us. It was strange to walk in the fissure, the main divide.

The American tectonic plate rose above us

A wondrous day, an adventure I was glad to have made.

I am sure there will be many metaphors to be made from my journey to be told in my courses.

                                                        see other Iceland entries, click

Categories
Travels

A Trip to Iceland – The Northern Lights

The first day in Iceland saw an evening trip into the cold night air on a warm coach full of people expectant on natures free light show, The Northern Lights.

The scientific name for the Northern Lights is “Aurora Borealis”, or aurora for short. The same phenomenon can also be seen in the Southern Hemisphere but known as the Southern Lights, or Aurora Australis.

The Sun is one gigantic nuclear explosion, which emits clouds of plasma. These clouds race through space and some towards earth. As these plasma particles start to enter our shield of defense the atmosphere, they collide with gases which create photons or light particles.

Rich Lacey www.northern-lights.no

These light particles form ribbons of light which dance along the magnetic force lines around the poles at a hight of between 80 to 200 kilometres above sea level.  

Different colours can be observed, according to time of the year, the activity of the sun, and the composition of the nitrogen and oxygen in the atmosphere.

Our bus took us to the site of the worlds first parliament formed in 930 by the Vikings. We were told that this is where the American Tectonic plate and the Eurasian Tectonic plate meet, and we were warned of many fissures around making it a dangerous place. As we got of the bus I edged my way in virtual total darkness, hoping I would not fall down a gap in the earth’s crust.

Venus shone brightly off our left shoulder, the North Star was up above us, as other stars twinkled, but no Northern Lights. We were told that the show does not happen every night.

Then, a white mist like cloud started to appear above us, and within minutes an arc of ribboned light, lit up the night. It could be likened to watching a rain storm in the far distance, etched against a dark sky , but this was far more visual and brighter.

I remember as a young boy in the Midlands of the UK, standing in the field at the back of my parents house looking north and seeing the sky dance with colours. Yes the Northern Lights have been seen as far south as Singapore.

Tonight we only saw white light. It was freezing, and one by one people sought the warmth of the bus. Nature must have known we had had enough, because the show was over, and we set off back home.

Ever eager not to miss this wonder of nature, we gazed out of the bus windows, and suddenly, nature gave us an encore. 

We stopped and again wrapped-up against the intense cold, we stood in awe as right above our heads, the Aurora Borealis gave us a dancing display, it was as if I could have reached up and touched the light. 

Like any encore it was short. We departed to get warm, and for me a hot chocolate. 

see other Iceland entries, click

Categories
Travels

A Trip to Iceland – First Impressions

My first impressions of Iceland, (situated just south of the Artic Circle), which was limited to the south of the island, was the great lack of ice. Although very cold, -0 degrees and less, there was little or no snow, that what could be seen, was only visible on the mountain tops in the far distance. The land was covered with dead brown grass (it was just finishing winter), with the flat lava landscape covered in moss, and leafless small bushes.

   
Views of Iceland, lacking any trees and other vegetation

I was told that neighboring Greenland is covered in ice and very un-green, and Iceland is green with vegetation, and the names were swapped to keep away visitors.

The land mostly volcanic, with some of the lava flows been laid down in the 1970’s, has had little time for fauna to establish itself, and certainly not enough time for nutrients to be established to support trees. The Icelanders are planting what they call forests, or small areas of trees.

Perhaps it was Easter, and the Icelanders had gone away for a long weekend to their “summer houses”, but the main shopping street in the capital Reykjavík was empty of shoppers. The street itself did not have the usual high street shops as other major towns or cities. There is no McDonnell’s, no Next dress shop, only one shop name I did recognise being Subway the sandwich shop.

I am told that the international shopping names do exist, but in the preferred shopping malls.

Driving was so leisurely. At no time did I see a traffic jam of more than three cars, there was no rush hour. A big difference to Istanbul, Milan or London.

Prices

Although the airport was only some 40 minutes drive, the first indication of how expensive Iceland is came with the cost of transfer from the airport to the hotel, nearly £26. As much as a taxi fare in the UK.

A simple meal in a standard Italian restaurant, the Rossopomodoro which seemed very popular with tourists, a pan fried chicken breast with potatoes and stir fried vegetables with a hot chocolate, (well it was cold) came to £30.

Rossopomodoro, Reykjavík, Iceland

A sandwich at the Blue Lagoon (as seen) over £6.

Entrance into and taking tours was very costly, an evening coach trip to see the Northern Lights over £20.

Very expensive place, Iceland.

Clean

Everywhere is very clean, the houses look as if they have just been painted, and all appear to be in a very high state of repair. Perhaps this is due to the contrast between the hard, jagged dark lava and the very angular buildings sitting square on the land.

   
The hotel Klopp and side street, Reykjavík, Iceland
The hotel Klopp, Klapparstigur 26 101, Reykjavík, was well presented and clean. Our room was as a normal hotel room, except we had a small conservatory where we could watch TV. Only breakfast was provided, but free drinks were always available, and did I need my hot chocolate to warm me up after a trip outside. 

With a population of only 380,000 people, Iceland is a rich country, relaxing, slow and very clean. A big difference to the hustle and bustle of London, Paris and Istanbul having a population of 13 million.

see other Iceland entries, click
Categories
NLP

Old or New?

I love technology.

If there is anything new, I have a urge, no desire to buy and use it.

I MUST have it.

Perhaps it is my inquiring mind, my days in the forefront of computing, perhaps it is that I am looking for solutions to solve or resolve issues and problems.

I am a great believer in VoiP (Voice over the internet Protocol). I often speak via Skype free of charge to relatives in Malaysia, friends in India, China, Italy, Canada and Turkey to discus business. I also use Skype to telephone landlines in many countries at greatly reduced rates.

The quality of VoiP is very good, the telecoms companies must change now to meet the challenge of this new technology, gone are the days when they would change very high charges for overseas calls. Mobile phone suppliers will also have to move soon to meet the challenge.

The problem with VoiP is that you need a computer switched on, hooked-up to the internet (broadband), which makes mobility, i.e. away from your desk a problem.

I have partially overcome this problem by having a mobile phone which can run Skype, and subject to being able to pick-up an free wireless internet connection, (Wi-Fi), I can make free or reduced rate calls to any part of the world from anywhere in the world.

A new product was launched by Skype, a Dualphone 3088.

This phone is connected wirelessly, via a base station, with a connection to the normal telephone line, so you can make and receive normal telephone calls. Also, the base station is connected to the internet. The telephone handset is like a computer in it’s own right, and runs Skype. No need to have a computer switched on.

This system worked well for one month, I was very pleased.

Then it stopped working.

I read the manual again. I reset the whole system. Reinstalled it. Rewired my computer layout. I did every thing I knew.

It was dead as regards making Skype calls, but OK for landlines. There was a big problem.

I decided to search the internet.

To my surprise, well not really, I find that this is a common fault with this Dualphone 3088, and has been an issue for a number of months, which is known by the manufacturer plus I would think by Skype.

Why do the manufacturer and Skype still sell this product when they know there is a very fundamental fault with the system, it breaks down.

Wait until the second generation or release.

Because technology is moving so quickly, new models, new ideas are rushed to the market before someone else gets there.

These inventions are often the brainchild of “techies”, they have a great idea, know how to create them, but have no idea of how they will be used by non technical thinking people, and how to test them in a non laboratory environment, that is the home of the end user.

I think the strategy some people take is to wait until the technophobs like me have tested them out, found the faults, which are then incorporated into new releases of the product.

It also means the product often is sold more cheaply.

Will I ever learn? No.

Trainings

I have noticed that over the years, new concepts and new ideas are launched in the field of training.

Often these new ideas are re badged, or old ideas or courses given a new name.

Having had attended some of these courses, or listened to presentations on the courses, I sit there and ask myself what planet do these people come from. There is no content in what they are doing, no value that can be taken away.

Then I listen to trainers who have been training a long time, seen a lot of water flowing under the bridge, had loads of experience, updated themselves and the courses with new ideas and concepts.

Unlike new trainers to the field, the old ones can bring into the course experience, knowledge of having done the work, implemented it, found the faults, and been able to resolve these.

Ask questions of other users of systems before buying. Ask only those who have used.

Read between the lines, as often people tell you things that they have heard from others second hand.

How often have I heard that hypnosis is dangerous. When asked, have you ever been hypnostised, they will say, NO. How do they know? Someone told them.

Remember, we only see things at the surface level.

We delete, distort, and generalise information as we are overwhelmed by information. (Miller 7 /-2).

Although totally frustrated now, I will have a break a holiday, get back to the issue and resolve it, and have satisfaction, then to have a good nights sleep.

Categories
Travels

Waves of relaxation

I love moving water, especially the sea.

What wondrous sights, of animals, people, things appear as my imagination runs riot, in the never to be seen again formations of waves washing the beaches.

  Press red arrow.
 
On a training trip to Sri Lanka, I relaxed, by watching the sea.

Categories
NLP PhotoReading Travels

The Streets are Paved with Gold

What a lovely day in the UK. Sunny, warm, summer like, the trees are in full bloom, and leaves rapidly opening on all the trees.

Blossom adorn the trees with such beauty, the streets are rich with colour, rich with gold.

Cherry Blossom in Norbiton Hall gardens
Cherry Blossom in Norbiton Hall gardens

I walked down to the bank in the town center of Kingston upon Thames, my daily exercise, and to those that have worked with me, I played with my sausage, Phillip’s Sausage.

As I played with my sausage, making it bigger and smaller, I was amazed at the sights, sounds, smells I observed, and my inner feelings made me feel good.

It was then that I noticed a penny laying on the pavement. I picked it up. Not 100 meters further, there was a five pence piece laying on the pavement.

Where do these coins come from?

I save these coins, and put them into a jar upon my return home. I wait until I have £100 (Pounds Sterling), and then I buy a National Savings Premium Bond.

The British government has for over fifty years been offering these bonds at £1 each. They do not pay interest, but when you want to get your money back, you sell them back to the Government. You do not loose money. Yes I know about inflation, but it is only a pound.

Every and each month the nice Premium Bond people use Ernie the computer, to place all the bonds into a draw, and Ernie picks random bond numbers as winners of money.

So all the money that people throw away become a bond, and yes I have won.

So the streets where you live are paved with gold. It is there. Use all your senses, you have been missing a lot.

P.S.

Those who have never seen my sausage or Phillip’s Sausageshould attend one of my courses, I will show you. 


Lottery tickets only go into one draw, then you loose your money. Tax? 
Categories
NLP Travels

Mocking Birds Dancing and life on the Galapagos Archipelago

My travels have taken me not quite to the four corners of the world, but not far off. Recently we made a visit to Peru, with an extension trip to the Galapagos Archipelago.

These ten island just south of the Equator, being of volcanic origin are situated some hundreds of miles off the Ecuador coast, in the middle of the Pacific, and offer an experience of beauty, with animals not showing any fear of man, we become the watched, the outsiders in another world.

This is the place where Charles Darwin in the early 1800’s, sailing in his boat the Beagle, came upon his Theory of Evolution. It was on these islands that he saw fauna and wildlife not seen anywhere else on the earth, where life had adapted to the surroundings and environment.

With not much rain, built of volcanic rock, the landscape was like a moonscape, not having much green vegetation, it was a privilege to be within and part of this world. I had seen more colonies of seals off the coast of the UK or Peru, bigger flocks of flamingo’s – thousands in a lagoon south of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, to the handful in Galapagos, but never had I been so close to nature.

In the early morning heat, we walked on a pristine beach, which only hours earlier had been visited by turtles, pulling themselves up from the sea to lay their eggs in the sand. On the rocks or lava flows, the cold blooded Iguana looking like dragons, warmed themselves in the sun, ready to dive into the sea to eat sea-weed (Ulvae).

Tracks left by turtles returning to sea after laying their eggs in the Galapagos Islands
in the Galapagos Islands
Cold blooded Iguana looking like dragons in the Galapagos IslandsCold blooded Iguana looking like dragons
on the Galapagos Islands

To walk with the giant tortoises protected in the Darwin Research Center, hearing how man by introducing other species to sustain their food supplies, had put at risk the sub species, and how the locals and authorities where trying with success to remove these unwanted “invaders”.

Lonesome George the Giant Tortoise in the Galapagos IslandsLonesome George the Giant Tortoise
on the Galapagos Islands

Bird life was rich, with birds nesting on the pathways marked out and strictly adhered to by all visitors to preserve the rich unique life on the Archipelago. The Blue Footed Booby was a must to see, seen nowhere else but here.

Blue Footed Booby
on the Galapagos Islands

We walked on the beach with the seals, who had no fear of man, we respected that this was their world, we were being allowed to share with them these special islands, and it is not our place to change their world. The seals were as much interested in us as we were with them, and it was them that came to us to smell, look at and to feel us, the invaders.

Seals on the Galapagos IslandsSeals on the Galapagos Islands
  Wildlife shows no fear of humans on the Galapagos IslandsWildlife shows no fear of humans
on the Galapagos Islands

We watched dancing Mocking Birds on the sand – click here to watch – performing some ritual, maybe of courtship or of territorial meaning.

Mocking Birds on the Galapagos Islands

It is at times like this, when one realises that we humans are also evolving, making changes, adapting to our world. Sometimes we enter into another world, country, way of life, civilisation or culture, and as history has proven, changed it to our ways with disastrous results, by putting our Cat on the Mat, religion, culture, beliefs into the mix.

Are we right to put our Cat on the Mat

Man can make a choice. With NLP, we do not make changes, although changes are made to people, but we give people choice. By giving people new strategies, being able to take control of their own states, people can make their own pathways, do things in new ways.

When I work with people, I try not to say this is right or this is wrong, I give them choice.

We are correct in allowing wildlife of the Galapagos Archipelago to be undisturbed as much as possible, to evolve as they wish without the destructive power of man.

Categories
NLP

Ageism, Nobody Loves Me

I attended a lunch meeting of the Southside Chamber of Commerce in London, held in The Bankside Restaurant, 32 Southwalk Bridge Road, London, owned by a member. Quite a large restaurant, with modern furniture, with leather seats, clean wooden tables high class and tasteful. The waitress’s were cheerful and helpful. The menu, printed on the printed place mat, gave a good choice of four courses, Good British food.

I had a wonderful soup, and for the main course, Cumberland Sausage, mashed potatoes, crispy fried onions, and a lush gravy. A British meal at last. But too much for me, as I try to loose more weight that will mean no dessert.

I have been a member of the Chamber for a number of years, and in that time have made many presentations to the group on subjects I teach NLP, memory skills etc. It is fun to be reminded many years later that someone can still remember one of the strategies I taught them.

I love my job.  

Although a small turnout, it is a time to network, talk to people, relax.

One member had lived and worked in the area I was born and brought up in, in the Midlands of the UK, Chasetown and Lichfield, a place I had left over thirty years ago, but still retaining a slight accent of the area.

I will not loose my Midlands accent, it is my individualism that I take with me.

Another member, a lawyer, had just retired from the British Government’s Home Office, now wondering what should the next move be in his working life.

A member I had never spoken to before sat next to me, and we exchanged details of ourselves.

I transpires that in a way he was having a similar career path as myself. Although younger than me, I could see him taking the same road I took.

Not being an academic, I was an artist, I loved making things, a hands-on man, I was forced or coerced, after the normal school leaving age, to follow an education in commerce, law, accounting, statistics at the Staffordshire College of Commerce. I did not really enjoy this experience, in fact I did not like accounting, statistics meant nothing to me.
 
On leaving college, with my certificates in my hand, I was maneuvered into the very early days of computers.

The first computer I worked on in 1966, a Leo, one walked into a large room which contained the processor, made-up of flashing electric valves. As you walked down the middle of this array of lights, you could touch and watch the bits and bytes being shuffled around the memory as it took I think five minutes to add 1 + 1 to come up with the answer 3.

My career journey had begun with computers. For many years I worked with computer manufacturers, NCR, Sperry Univac, Texas Instruments, producing solutions on the computers to customers requirements, accounting, payrolls, stock keeping, hotel management, retail. I was an expert. The expert.

In 1988 after a long stay in the Middle East as Software Manager with Texas Instruments, I returned to the UK to find (after a rest) a new job.

I had really never had to search for work, after all, I was good, I was an expert, I was often “head hunted” for new positions.
 
Now jobs were not there. No one wanted me.  Nobody loved me.

Why?

Ok, I did not have a degree, a process I was to undertook in the late 1990’s at Brunel University, but I had all the knowledge, I had been at the forefront of discovering and working with new technologies. Why?

Age. That was the answer.

I was too old. Computing is a young persons game. The owners, the managers who interviewed me were all younger than me. Perhaps I was a threat to them.

But I have so much to offer, and someone saw what I had, employed me, and I became an expert in the computerised replacement window, door and flat glass manufacturing sector.

For a number of years I helped and advised companies in the computerisation of the processing of windows, doors and flat glass units. With friends, we formed our own company, but the down turn of the British economy of the early 1990’s saw the company end.

With all my expertise, still nobody loved me, nobody wanted my knowledge, I applied for hundreds of jobs. Not even getting an interview. 

Employment agencies used me to help the other unemployed get jobs, paying me in postage stamps and blank paper for me to print my large CV.

That is when I did my own thing, got off my bum, and offered my expertise to small to medium sized companies to run their computer sites, supply their hardware and software, make sure their sites and staff were fully operational. 

Still I was not happy.

That is when I came across NLP, Hypnosis, with Paul McKenna and Richard Bandler et al. I loved this new information. I needed more and more. 

After a couple of years, I had had enough of the rat race, travelling each day into Central London, Piccadilly Circus, Oxford Circus, trying to compete with the young whiz kids, just out of school, “knowing everything” about computers, (Gameboy). I told my clients I had had enough.

Thus my journey in training, consulting, coaching phobia cures.

To this day, I am researching for more knowledge I can place in my portfolio to train others. 

I go to the originators of whatever I want to learn, and get their approval to teach their work.

Yet, I come across many people who have had similar experiences to me and employment. They do not work, they blame the government, society, the ageism immigration, anything but themselves.

Poo Poo happens. It is said that we will have to re-educate ourselves every six years, as knowledge and technology is moving so quickly, if we do not move with it, we will have no jobs.

I hope the member of the Southside Chamber, like me and you, updates with new knowledge, not to sit back and hope we have a job for life.

Life evolves, let us evolve too, and learn to learn.

Categories
Travels

“As I sit here…….”, Alistair Cook’s Letter from America

In the early 1980’s, I left the shores of the UK to work as Software Manager for the distributor of the computer manufacturer in Saudi Arabia Texas Instruments.

It was a five year stay that taught me a lot.

It taught me about different cultures, all the nationals of the world that were there in small numbers, we had to support each other, as the culture, living standards were certainly not Western, Eastern or British.

It taught me about religion, something I do not discuss with people. But, just to say that it was on a trip to Elephant Island off the coast of Bombay, India, that I had this insight that we all worship the same thing, it is just how we choose to understand it. Too much can be said, perhaps in the future.

At this time in Saudi Arabia, there were many restrictions on what we were allowed to do by the Saudis. We were not allowed to practice our own religion, television was highly censored, there were no clubs, pubs, cinemas, theaters, radio was not broadcast as I remember in English. The Internet did not exist, let alone PC computers.

Drink was banned, but I shared accommodation with an alcoholic, blue movies were banned, but this was the time I saw my first blue movie. Things were not what they appeared to the outside world.

We had to find our own entertainment, hire the latest video from illegal tape libraries, spend evenings walking around vast shopping malls buying counterfeit cassettes of the latest LP’s, or compilation tapes, Out NOW, or attend the weekly British Embassy Cinema Club, sitting outside to watch the big screen, being bitten by hoards of mosquitoes.

But in the privacy of my room, I would listen to the BBC World Service, choosing a frequency according to the time of day for best reception.

The music, “Lilliburlero” (to listen click here) which was played at the start of each hours news stands out in my mind. Another program, is Alistair Cook’s Letter From America. Perhaps the first blog, but on radio.

I seem to remember Alistair Cook starting his weekly correspondence, with a picture of him in my mind of him sitting in a big winged leather chair  with such words as:-

       “As I sit here…….”,

and he would report and comment on how he saw the world going by him in a quiet, controlled way, no controversy in his voice, no criticism, just putting his rational point of view, allowing the listener to come to their own conclusions, understandings of the issues of the week. He would use stories, metaphors, of happenings to illustrate what he was talking about.

Was he an NLP’er?

Sadly he has gone to the home in the sky, the one we will all visit one day, but I hope his influence, his broadcasts have helped me in writing this blog. 

I do not seek to offend, cause controversy, just to say what is happening to me, as I see the world,  to perhaps impart some information of my knowledge to help you to enrich your world, to teach some of NLP, Hypnosis, Learning, Memory, Reading, PhotoReading, Mind Maps.

If I write something it comes from my heart, it was correct as I see the word at that time, if I place a picture or photograph for you to see, perhaps that is the only picture I have at that time. It is my Cat On The Mat, my understanding of the world.

I welcome your comments and feedback.

I only see things through my eyes, hear with my ears, feel with my feelings. 

I ask that you enrich my world, my understanding with yours.

Please share, so we can all share and become one.

Categories
NLP Recommendation Travels Türkçe Turkish

My Turkish Translators

I love the work I do, in all the countries I visit I find such warmth from the people.

I cannot do my work without translators, in those countries which are non English speaking as their native language. Those that I have worked with have proven the best, and with all, I remain amazed at their abilities, their stamina, the love of their chosen profession.

Hear are a few of my translators in Turkey:-

Asuman Yildirim
Asuman Yildirim
Arzu Ozen
Arzu Ozen
Zümrüt Demirel
Zümrüt Demirel
Halil Ibanoglu
Halil Ibanoglu
Aylin Mutlu
Aylin Mutlu
Deniz Merdivan
Deniz Merdivan

I woudld recommend all of my Turkish translators I have worked with throughout the years.