Who'da Thunk?

I never thought I'd see Great Britain in third place halfway through the Olympics, ahead of Germany, Australia and Russia.So we can't play football, rugby or cricket, but cycling, rowing and sailing are ours!

Whatever happens now, in the words of Mariah Carey, 'they can't take that away from us'!*

Speaking of Australia, as we were a few lines ago, I had a little more to say about my recent trip down under, but the Salvation Army music camp got in the way. I hope you'll be able to excuse the lack of chronology in mitchenstein's most recent posts.

My sister Caroline and her husband Brettmond (whose name is actually Brett, but it sounds like it should be short for something, doesn't it?) very kindly took us camping one night, in the wilds of Victoria. Now, I've not done a lot of camping in my time, well not since I was in the cubs, and even then, we didn't have to put the tents up ourselves (outrageous, isn't it?). So I was a little inexperienced and didn't really know what to do.

But while the others worked I took a photo of myself holding a hammer, so that it would look like I'd helped to put up the tent.

After a while, I was allowed to help by holding various things. They figured that I couldn't cause much damage there:

They were, of course, wrong.

So I went back to taking photos.

When we told others we were going camping, they said 'Ooh, it's gonna get cold!' I was like 'Come on, it's Australia. How cold can it get?'

What do I know?

It was, without doubt, the coldest night of my life. I can't really put it into words, and the photos can't really convey it, but... (if I carried on that sentence, I'd be trying to put it into words).

We had a great time though out in the 'bush' - and I saw an echidna. I took a photo of it (and I used to be able to see it in this picture, but I have no idea now):

We had a great trip all in all, seeing family and meeting new cousins - and we saw some great Australian tourist attractions (Australian tourist attractions are a little different from in other countries):

*Ok, Mariah Carey's actual words were 'they can't take that away from me', but I don't feel I can take all of the credit for Great Britain's performance at the Olympics. Think of the trainers.

A Normal Life

Man. Today the phone’s been ringing non-stop. I’ve had emails, texts, constant ‘bings’ from MSN...

And why?

Well, word seems to have got out that I’m now quite a celebrity in Germany. Yes, ‘John Mitchinson’ is on its way to becoming a bit of household name amongst our Teutonic cousins. Consequently, friends have been ringing non-stop, desperate to ask ‘Will you still remember us when you’re rich and famous?’ Chances are, I will.

So what’s the background to all this?

When I was in Germany for a Salvation Army music camp, a very large and influential German newspaper (the Kieler Nachrichten) decided to run a story about me, along with a photo. I didn’t ask for all the attention that came with it – it just happened. I can’t say I’m not enjoying the stares of recognition as I walk down the street, but ultimately, all I want is a normal life.

Here’s the article:

And here’s the zoomed-in picture:

But through it all, I’m still just Johnny from the block.

While this may have been a lot for you to take in, I do have one other bit of news to share with you.

People, our time has come.

With the eyes of the world currently on Beijing (she wasn’t singing!), it’s only natural that our thoughts should drift towards the next Olympic games, London 2012.

We’ve seen the fantastic buildings in Beijing – and we’re compelled to think of the fine London landmarks that will house our own Olympic events: Horse Guards Parade, the Millennium Dome, Wimbledon and... a Salvation Army farm in Hadleigh, Essex.

That’s right, the mountain bike event is going to be held here in our little corner of south-east Essex and on Salvation Army land – how cool is that? (Click here for proof).

You read it here first (possibly).

(Read on for more about the music camp in Germany and my first-ever video!)

John Goes to Germany and then Makes a Video and Writes a Blogpost

Apologies for the slight break, but I’m back! I’ve just been at the Salvation Army’s music camp in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany – and we had an amazing time. Check out this video I made (it was my first ever video [hence the overuse of special effects – the mark of an amateur], but I’m pretty chuffed with myself):

This was my third time at the music camp in Germany – and it was the best. I’ve been to a few different music schools, but there’s just something about the German one for me. This year topped the two other years for two main reasons:

1) I was in charge of the Bible Study group for the fifteen to eighteen-year-olds, which was daunting, hard work, but just about one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done, and

2) This year I made a real effort to speak to as many different people as I could. In previous years I’ve been a little too dependent on a smaller group, but this year I had so much fun spending time with so many different people. It was sweet!

And I didn’t make this video here, but have a look – and check out that euphonium player... (credit to Jens for uploading):


And finally,

The John Mitchinson diet:

1. Go to northern Germany.,
2. Eat Haribo every morning,
3. Go to the ice-cream parlour every day (including twice on one occasion),

See the weight drop off!
I can’t understand it. I followed the above pattern rigorously and managed to lose 9lbs (4 kilo) in just under two weeks...*
*Stomach may have been pushed out/pulled in for dramatic effect.

The Best Night

Last August I published a post entitled The Best Day about the day I did the Neighbours tour and met two of the guys from the show, Fraser and Ringo. It was the best day.

Well, here‘s ‘The Best Night’!

As you know, I am a little bit of a Neighbours fan. Just a tad. Being back in Melbourne this summer, I wanted to do the Neighbours tour again, but no-one wanted to come with me – and going on my own would be crossing a line I didn’t want to cross (unlike doing the Neighbours tour twice). So what to do?

Well, it just so happens that there’s a Neighbours evening held at an English pub in the city – so we went there instead! And check out these photos...

This may be the coolest photo I’ve had on my blog yet:

The Doc – the reason I’m doing my PhD. (Not really). Mum kissed him twice (but my Dad’s cool with it).

And we also met Steve and Stu Parker and Marco: It was a great evening – rounded off by Doctor Karl’s band, The Waiting Room (geddit?), who were actually really good (and much heavier than you’d think).And there was a pub quiz that night too. Our team was the Salvos, and we came in third (which was pretty good, I thought. Roughly two places behind the winning team). The quiz had absolutely nothing to do with Neighbours (which is why we only came in third), but was much more general knowledgey – do you know the four countries in Europe that drive on the left?

As the guy read out the results, he asked if we really were Salvos, to which we said ‘yes’ (because we were) and he asked for another round of applause for all the work the Salvos do, to which there was applause (as requested) and cheering. I had mixed feelings about this: on the one hand it’s great that we got to raise the profile of The Salvation Army amongst the group and to show them that there’s young people in the Army – it’s not all Harold Bishops. They all seemed to know who we were, which is also good (not really an issue in Australia, where the Salvation Army has a very high profile, but most of the people in the pub that night were from the UK, Ireland and New Zealand), but it did leave me feeling a little guilty about sharing some of the credit (which of course, we’re not in it for) for the fantastic things the Army does, when I don’t quite do as much as I should. And who’d have thought I’d come away from a Neighbours night at a British pub feeling challenged about what I do as a Salvationist?

I didn’t actually get to see much Neighbours while I was there, but be prepared for the tackiest funeral you ever did see (tacky even for Neighbours).

Ode to Aldgate

Ode to Aldgate Underground Station

I can understand your sadness,
I know how hard it must be,
When someone steps on to your platform
And shouts ‘This isn’t Liverpool Street!’

Your workers must feel so unwanted.
‘Which platform for Barking, please?’
Broken-hearted, they say, with a sigh,
‘I think you want Aldgate East.’

You're the station that nobody aims for:
As soon as they’re in, they want out,
Over the footbridge or back out the door,
They never stop to see what you’re about.

Always the source of disappointment,
It’s only natural you’d want to stand out.
But now, just between friends, dear Aldgate,
What is this really all about?

I can understand your sadness,
And sometimes you must feel like a grumble,
But when, and why, dear Aldgate,
Did you start to resemble a jungle?

The Truth

I edited this picture myself. Could you tell?

And so I’m back! Before I start, let me just tell you that I’ve updated the mitchenstein365 blog with photos from the Australia trip. Some of them are pretty cool!

But this blogpost has, in fact, nothing to do with Australia (that’ll come). Before I went away I posted twenty ‘facts’ about me, but three were, in fact, false. So which ones?

1. I keep a Christmas Card list throughout the year, adding/removing people as I get on well with them/they annoy me.
This is, I’m glad to say, FALSE. I can be quite sad at times, but this would be a step too far, even for me. What is a little worrying is that those people who commented on the post took this one for being true...

2. I keep a list of every Salvation Army corps (church) I’ve ever seen.
This is TRUE. 142 down, roughly 15,000 to go.

3. People blowing raspberries makes me feel sick.
This is TRUE and I’m now wondering why I put this on here. That was pretty dumb.

4. Part of me still thinks I’m going to be a pop-star.
TRUE, obviously.

5. I don’t like touching food that others are going to eat.
Yep, this is TRUE. Weirdly, I don’t mind others touching my food (within reason, obviously).

6. The same goes for cutlery and glasses that other people are going to use.
TRUE. Unloading the dishwasher is a nightmare (fortunately I don’t do it often :D )

7. Un-sporty as I may seem, I ran for my school when I was younger.
Oh, this is so TRUE. Not only did I run for my school, but I got into the final (my day of glory, aged 10)

8. As a kid, I was desperate to become an estate agent.
Sad, but TRUE. I had my company logo designed and everything.

9. When I was a kid I once lied that my mum worked at McDonalds because I thought it sounded cool.
This is TRUE too.

10. Whenever I’m writing a list of things to do, I always put some things I’ve done already so I can tick them off.
TRUE. Definitely.

11. Whenever I go on holiday I send out loads of emails so I’ll have lots of emails in my inbox when I get home.
Again, sad but TRUE. And it works without fail.

12. Whenever I need to ask anyone in London for directions, I speak with an Australian accent.
This is also TRUE. Once when shopping in Quiksilver I took the ultimate risk and pretended to be an Australian when talking to an Australian. I got away with it, but then again, my Australian accent is pretty darn convincing. (OK, this bit did have something to do with Australia.)

13. I was once stopped on Tottenham Court Road and photographed for a modelling agency.
This is also TRUE. And I was phoned twice by the agency afterwards and, stupidly, never phoned them back. How different my life could have been...

14. When I was thirteen, my best friend and I invented our own language which we spoke for nearly one whole day.
Yep, this is also TRUE. The only sentence I can remember now is Kaya mika Mike, but I can’t translate that in case Mike reads this.

15. I once had a birthday card signed by the whole Tottenham Hotspurs team.
Also TRUE. Pretty cool, eh?

16. I don’t lend out books to my friends, because I can’t stand it when they get creases down their spines (The spines of the books, I mean. I don’t care if my friends have creases on their spines).
This is so TRUE, so don’t even ask. It’ll save us both embarrassment.

17. I’m a member of the Esperanto Association of Great Britain.
This is one of those FALSE ‘facts’. I know hardly any Esperanto at all – I find it hard to take any language seriously when the word for ‘bird’ is ‘birdo’.

18. When I was younger it was my dream to work in Argos.
Absolutely TRUE. Don’t you remember that amazing feeling when you’d ordered a toy and there it appeared on the conveyer-belt behind the desk? Fantastic. And I wanted to share that feeling with others.

19. At school I once got three detentions in one day, including one for fighting.
This is also TRUE. And boy was I glad when I got home and Mum had a real headache and wasn’t really able to take in what I was telling her.

20. My bookshelves are organised in alphabetical order of each book’s country of origin.

FALSE. Come on, as if I would be that sad? I only did this with my CDs.

Happy Second Birthday! (Part Seven)

So here we are at the end of another Birthday Week. And I managed to blog every day!

Who knows what the next year will bring? Some time in the Faroes, yes, a birthday presumably, Christmas and Easter (assuming the next year will be like the last two thousand) – but what else?!

Have a great year – and keep reading!

What else can I say?

Happy Second Birthday! (Part Six)

The Mitchenstein Blog Awards 2008
(‘The Mitchies’)
“As prestigious as you want them to be.”

(The picture above is, of course, of an Oscar, and not a Mitchie).

In line with the general self-congratulatory mood of this blogging week, I decided to have my own blog awards this year too. As presumptuous and pretentious as that may be, the basic idea is really just to show which bloggers and blogs I think have done well this year and maybe to alert you to a blog or two you’re not yet familiar with. And without much further ado (and I think you’ll agree there’s been a fair bit of ado so far) here are the Mitchenstein Blog Awards 2008:

Best Supporting Blogger 2008
For the blogger who encourages others by commenting on their blogs. Not in a weird way, but in an encouraging encouragy-type way.

Winner: Katie Allen, author of Random Thoughts of Katie

Most Conscientious Blogger 2008
Celebrating those bloggers who blog regularly and clearly put a lot of thought into their blog posts.

Winner: Liz Hall, author of Are We Nearly There Yet?

Most Thought-Provoking Blog 2008
For those blogs that really make us stop and think.

Winner: Shaw Coleman with Agent 832

Blogger People Would Most Like to See Return to Blogging 2008
This is a fairly self-explanatory award. So I don’t need to write anything here, although I will, otherwise it interferes with the whole look of the page.

Winner: Glyn Harries, author of Confessions of an Innocent Man

Best Newcomer 2008
Celebrating those new bloggers who have made an impact on our blogosphere (in blogging and commenting).

Winner: Anna Achermann, author of Anjushka (who is, however, slightly hindered by a lack of internet access at present!)

(Winners 2007: Katie Allen, Random Thoughts of Katie and Andy Hill, Old Enough to Know Better)

And finally, Best Blog Post 2008
I said I would go with the popular vote here, and I’m afraid it’s:

Winner: John Mitchinson with Confirmed

(Winner 2007: Glyn Harries with The Day I Lost All Respect for Andi Peters)

Happy Second Birthday! (Part Five)

As I've been writing my posts this week, I've been thinking about the past year, but also thinking about what's to come. What do we have to look forward to in 2008-2009? Well the next year looks like it’s going to be quite an interesting one, as I’m going to be spending around three months in the Faroe Islands.*

Now, correct me if I’m wrong here, but not too many people know much about the Faroe Islands, and as you’re going to be reading a fair bit about them over the next year (assuming you stick with this), I thought it’d be a good idea to give you a little introduction. So here are ten facts you never knew about the Faroe Islands, which were forwarded to me by a Faroese friend. Stick with it, it’s funny (I apologise for the odd bit of language here, I changed some of it, but some of it had to stay for it to work):

The Faroe Islands – Facts (You Never Knew) You Never Knew:

1) Although the islands' main industry is fishing, most of the catch is exported (97% of Faroese exports have scales and fins). Hence it's almost impossible to buy fresh fish in the Faroes. Most supermarket fish is shrink-wrapped and imported from Denmark. The best way to obtain fresh fish in the Faroes is as follows: Go to the harbour and engage a recently arrived fisherman in conversation, suddenly point somewhere behind him and shout 'Oh my word, look at that!' When the fisherman turns round to look, scoop up an armful of fish and hot foot it from the scene.

2) The rocky terrain of the Faroes makes it virtually impossible grow fresh produce. Hence the vegetables you buy at the supermarket are, like the fish, shrink-wrapped and imported from Denmark. If you live in the Faroes and want to buy fresh fish, fruit and vegetables, your best bet is to move to Copenhagen.

3) Most older Faroese houses have turf roofs to provide insulation.

'I'm just popping out to mow the roof,' may sound like a convoluted euphemism for a visit to the toilet, but it's a phrase heard in many Faroese households during the summer months. In contrast, Faroese gardens don't have lawns – they're covered in roofing slates. They're not really, I just made that up.

4) There are thought to be twice as many sheep in the Faroes as there are people. The Faroese word for Faroe Islands, Føroyar, means 'Isles of Sheep'. There is a 1000 kroner fine for anyone hitting a sheep with their car, accidentally or otherwise, so be on your guard.

Faroese sheep are notoriously litigious creatures, and what you interpret as cute baa-ing actually means 'Nice car. Wouldn't it be a shame if the front wing got damaged, know what I mean?' Believe me, those innocent, quizzical ovine faces mask sharp financial minds fully conversant with compensation law. Where do you think the verb 'to fleece' came from?

5) The Faroese are football crazy. When the national stadium in Torshavn is full to its 6,000 capacity, that's fifteen per cent of the entire population - the equivalent of about eight million people turning up at Wembley to watch England.

Two years ago, Julian Johnsson became the first Faroese to play in the English league after signing for Hull City. Presumably he chose Hull because the prevailing smell of fish would remind him of home.

6) Until 1992, alcohol was strictly rationed in the Faroe Islands. You could apply to the government to buy alcoholic drink but, and this was a stroke of genius by the Faroese authorities, you could only apply if your taxes were all paid up to date.

It was the Faroese equivalent of the Inland Revenue taking over Oddbins and only handing over a bottle of Jacob's Creek on presentation of your latest P60. But you couldn't have it straightaway: the booze would arrive by boat from Denmark every three months and the country would grind to a halt for three days afterwards, leaving the streets full of prostrate, pie-eyed, pissed-up but paid-up Faroese.

7) The airport that serves the Faroe Islands is located on the remote western island of Vágar, a one-and-a-half hour drive from the capital Tórshavn. This is because it's the only island with a piece of flat ground long enough to accommodate a runway, and even then it's one of the shortest in Europe.

When flying with the national carrier Atlantic Airways for the first time, you may be struck by the frequency and enthusiasm with which the cabin staff ply you with free booze. Once you catch a glimpse of the tiny stretch of tarmac towards which you're barrelling out of the heavens, you soon realise why.

8) Faroese weather can best be described as changeable. 'Four seasons in one hour' is a popular local saying, and it's not unknown to experience sun, rain, snow, hail, dense fog and gale force winds in the time it takes to put the bins out.

9) Faroese is an ancient Nordic language thought to be the closest to that spoken by the Vikings (John: This isn’t quite true). During the 1940s, under Danish rule, the language was at risk of disappearing altogether but conscious effort was then made to preserve it. This even extended to placing handy grammar hints and verb declensions on the sides of milk cartons.

Faroese contains a number of useful words and phrases such as brenna krakk, which means 'burning the three-legged stool after turning down a suitor'. Fjalla is a useful verb meaning 'to go into the hills to work among the sheep', whilst skadahvalur is 'whalemeat sold at auction to defray the cost of damages to boats'. Vevlingur is 'a cord worn around the sleeve when digging for puffins' and, and this is my favourite, the skeinkjari: that popular chap, the 'man who goes among wedding guests, offering them drink'.

10) The Faroe Islands boast over 300 different species of seabird. Roast puffin is a popular local dish, and puffins stuffed with sawdust are proving to be a thriving cottage tourist industry for ornithological taxidermists. Faroese law states that you can't shoot puffins. You can, however, smack them with a big stick. Skilled puffin catchers scale the treacherous cliffs smacking puffins with big sticks and fastening them to their belts for safe passage like a feathery black and white sporran.

Guillemots are also rife in the islands but you're not allowed to catch Faroese ones, not even with big sticks. You are however allowed to catch those that have come over from Iceland. How you can tell which is which is a moot point. You could ask them, but Icelandic guillemots are canny creatures and can do a convincing Faroese accent.

*You can read my account of a trip to the Faroes here.

Happy Second Birthday! (Part Four)

Besides mentioning some very important facts about myself, I also listed my ambitions in my first ever post. Last year I looked at how these were going and made some new ones for the next blogging year.

They were:
1. Get a piece of music published by The Salvation Army.

2. Lose a little more weight (I'm nearly where I want to be!)

3. Start a gospel choir.

4. Be able to speak another language fluently by this time next year. As you know, I am a little bit of a language freak, so I'm actually trying to learn three languages at the same time... We'll see how that goes.
5. Get a new hobby.

6. Keep this blog going.
7. Seize the day more.

And how have they gone?

1. Nope, failed this again this year. But, to be fair, I haven’t actually written anything, so this always was rather unlikely.
2. I did lose the weight! I put half of it back on again, but I did lose the weight!
3. Er, nope. It’s coming.
4. I have sort of achieved this. Almost. Well, last year I spoke very little Danish, but could read it fluently. Now I can pretty much speak it fluently too, but it wasn’t a new language. However, I could only read a little Icelandic back then and now my Icelandic is much better (although not fluent), so I reckon those two facts combined mean I can say I pretty much achieved this.
5. Yep, I play the oboe. I suck at it (not literally, that’s bad for the reeds), but I play the oboe. To a degree.
6. I kept this baby going.
7. Yes, I think I did. If ‘seizing the day’ means getting around to things you’ve always wanted to do or just trying new things, then I have seized the day more. Sweet.

What’s really frustrating is that I achieved one of my 2006 aims this year, but took it off last year’s list. I (kinda) got a book published. Well, it was a very small chapter of a very small book, but it’s a first step (which incidentally was the result of a bit of day-seizing).

So, some ambitions for next year?
1. Keep this blog going.
2. Get a book published (more than just a mini-chapter this time).
3. Raise some money for charity.
4. Get a piece of music published by The Salvation Army (really can’t see this happening, but for old time’s sake).
5. Learn to speak another language fluently (I recently read about a guy who could speak 50-something languages fluently. I now have my target).
6. Start a gospel choir (one day, one day).
7. Read more (obviously I have to read a lot for university, but I mean like non-university books).
8. Be tidier and more organised, and go to bed earlier.
9. Learn Welsh (I know that’s kinda overlapping with ambition number 5).

So that’s where I am - cymer ofal!

Happy Second Birthday! (Part Three)

Back in my first ever post, as I introduced myself to the few people that read this blog (fortunately this number has since grown), I gave some facts about myself, which I updated last year. And here they are for this year:

Favourite Book:
2006: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
2007: Mr Bounce
2008: The Indian in the Cupboard (Classic) But I read it in Swedish this year – does that intellectualise it a little? (Bearing in mind last year’s book)

Secret (and perhaps slightly embarrassing) Fact:
2006: I own three copies of Disney’s Hercules on DVD
2007: I accidentally went to toilet in a cupboard in McDonalds in France
2008: Earlier this month, Katie lent me The Little Mermaid on video (It’s not how it sounds. Ok, it’s exactly how it sounds. The fact it’s on video makes it so much worse...)

Favourite Character from Friends:
2006: Phoebe
2007: Still Phoebe I'm afraid (but I must say that Rachel and increasingly Ross are coming close...)
2008: Phoebe, of course (Ross?! What was I thinking?)

Thing That Annoys Me Most:
2006: People who don’t have locks on their bathrooms (mainly Australians)
2007: People who don’t know how to order in SubWay and panic
2008: Patrick Kielty. Unlike Patrick Kielty, I am able to speak more than five sentences without saying where I’m from. You’re from Ireland, we get it

Favourite TV Show:
2006: Kath & Kim
2007: Kath & Kim
2008: Gavin and Stacey, I won’t lie to you

Prized Possession:
2006: My Hokey-Cokey Elmo
2007: My Tickle-Me Elmo EXTREME
2008: I don’t think I have anything to compete with the Elmos. Maybe my elbows... No, I’m going to stop this category this year and have a new one:

Strangest Dream of the Year
2008: Amy Winehouse singing in Hadleigh Singing Company (Salvation Army children’s choir – she was one of the slightly too-cool-for-school ones on the back row [found in every singing company I believe.])

Happy Second Birthday! (Part Two)

As with last year, the first part of today’s post is going to look at Mitchenstein in statistics:

Mitchenstein in Statistics

Number of posts (before this week): 119 (I managed 55 last year, so that’s 64 this year – an increase! [Although four weren’t written by me.])

Number of comments altogether: 449 (Not bad, not bad, I had 217 last year, so that’s 232 this year – I’d just like to point out that I’m not comment-crazy, but it’s interesting [for me] to see an increase).

Number of comments by me (on my blog): As with last year, this would take ages to count, but it's higher than it should be.

Languages of posts: English, German (as with last year, but this year I’ve had titles in Welsh and Icelandic - Last year I also had a title in Lingala, but I forgot to add that - thanks Lizette!).

Languages of comments: English, German, Swedish, Icelandic, Lingala, Swiss German and Portuguese (Languages interest me somewhat).

Number of languages William Booth quote has been found in (see right-hand column): 26 – that’s only an increase of two on last year. So keep looking!

Those statistics were more for my benefit than anyone else's, but that's allowed.

Facts
Those of you that read this blog probably know me pretty well, but I thought I would use this opportunity all the same to give you twenty additional facts about me:

1. I keep a Christmas Card list throughout the year, adding/removing people as I get on well with them/they annoy me.

2. I keep a list of every Salvation Army corps (church) I’ve ever seen.

3. People blowing raspberries makes me feel sick.

4. Part of me still thinks I’m going to be a pop-star.

5. I don’t like touching food that others are going to eat.

6. The same goes for cutlery and glasses that other people are going to use.

7. Un-sporty as I may seem, I ran for my school when I was younger.

8. As a kid, I was desperate to become an estate agent.

9. When I was a kid I once lied that my mum worked at McDonalds because I thought it sounded cool.

10. Whenever I’m writing a list of things to do, I always put some things I’ve done already so I can tick them off.

11. Whenever I go on holiday I send out loads of emails so I’ll have lots of emails in my inbox when I get home.

12. Whenever I need to ask anyone in London for directions, I speak with an Australian accent.

13. I was once stopped on Tottenham Court Road and photographed for a modelling agency.

14. When I was thirteen, my best friend and I invented our own language which we spoke for nearly one whole day.

15. I once had a birthday card signed by the whole Tottenham Hotspurs team.

16. I don’t lend out books to my friends, because I can’t stand it when they get creases down their spines (The spines of the books, I mean. I don’t care if my friends have creases on their spines).

17. I’m a member of the Esperanto Association of Great Britain.

18. When I was younger it was my dream to work in Argos.

19. At school I once got three detentions in one day, including one for fighting.

20. My bookshelves are organised in alphabetical order of each book’s country of origin.

Any surprises there? Well, three of these ‘facts’ are, in fact, untrue.

Happy Second Birthday! (Part One)

Just as Katie is unable to blink without putting it on FaceBook, I am unable to allow a blogging milestone to pass without making a big song and dance about it. So allow me to sing and dance.
Today marks exactly two years since I first sat down and started my mitchenstein blog. So for this, the second Mitchenstein Birthday Week, I will be (as with last year) attempting to blog every day, because, well, why not?

This has been a strange year in the blogging sphere. The word ‘slow’ would some it up nicely. A fair few seem to have stopped blogging altogether (come on Glyn!) while others haven’t been blogging so much. However, as for me and mine, I’ve done pretty well this year and have actually blogged more than last year. This year also marked the start of my mitchenstein365 project, whereby I have to take a photo every day. Hard work as that may be, it seems to be going pretty well too (with a slight blip earlier this month).

So, here’s a quick recap of the first two years of mitchenstein:

2006-7
2007-8
Make sure you come back during the week to see what else is going on!

John Mitchbryson (Part Three)

Not only did I manage to learn a lot while I was in Denmark, but I also broke a record. I believe I hold the record for the shortest amount of time ever between walking into a Salvation Army corps on a Sunday morning and taking a seat in the band. Seriously. I stepped into the hall and my first view around the building was from the second euphonium seat. It was an absolute blur. But I had a fantastic time. It was a great corps from what I could see, and the people were so friendly. Next time I’m in Copenhagen I’ll definitely go back there. Those guys were a credit to The Salvation Army.

I took this picture on the way to the corps. I made it look like I was taking a picture of Wayne's Coffee, which I kinda was, because it's where we used to hang out when I lived in Sweden, but I was actually taking a photo of the most stupidly designed floor in the history of flooral design (see what I did there?). The black slabs were so unbelievably slippery, so every other step I took nearly sent me reeling. (Admittedly, my Army shoes have no grip whatsoever).

That afternoon I decided to catch the train to Sweden. That’s one of the things I love about the Continent – if I had land access to other countries I’d go there all the time. I remember when I lived in Germany I had a free day so I caught the train to Poland (not as sunny as we’d been led to believe) which was only two hours away. That evening my friends had asked me what I’d been doing so I told them and none of them had been there. Two hours away!? I digress again. The Swedish city of Malmö is only 35 minutes away from Copenhagen by train, and as someone who lived in Sweden, studied Swedish and had never been to Sweden’s third largest city, it seemed a good opportunity (the National Library was also closed). Aside from being absolutely ripped off on the train (I’m sorry, but nothing led me to read the tiny, tiny Danish print on the reverse of the ticket that told me I’d have to have the ticket stamped in order for it to be valid) I had a great time in Malmö. I saw a big flag when I arrived...(I don't think you'll need a translation) but unfortunately I’d missed the Sunday meeting (I thought attending two Salvation Army meetings in one day in two countries would be kinda cool, but I won’t get to experience that just yet). Malmö is a beautiful city. I had time to see all I wanted and visit SubWay (which they don’t have in Denmark. Argh.) Malmö has quite a famous tower which I wanted to see. And it’s massive. I kept thinking I was getting closer to it every time I turned a corner (I’d been able to see it for ages), but I eventually got there. And it was pretty impressive too. A lot of people seemed to have the same haircut in Sweden too, but I came to the conclusion that these were just lost Danes.

The time in Denmark was massively useful – both in terms of what I managed to get out of the 32 hours (yes) I spent in the Danish Library and how I got to know a city a little better that I’m probably going to be spending a fair bit of time in over the next few years. I also learned some stuff on the plane too, from the in-flight magazine. Did you know that Portugal is the only European country not to dub foreign films into the native language? I suppose that’s true if you ignore Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Greece, Cyprus, Estonia, the Netherlands and Romania.

And I know I shouldn't find it funny and I know I'm just a big kid, but it's like they got all the funny things together and put them on one sign:

John Mitchbryson (Part Two)

Having settled into my room on the first day, I set off for a bit of a walk. I should think that most visitors to Copenhagen who start at the main train station would walk east, seeing as that’s where you find the shops, the tourist sites and pretty much everything else. That’s what I’ve done too on my two previous visits to Copenhagen. But this time I decided to go west, to – as in the grand tradition of Tilly, Tom and Tiny – see what I could see. I split that infinitive big time.

It was fascinating to walk through parts of the city I’d never seen before and that not many tourists would get to see. After I’d been walking for a little while, I heard fantastic music coming from somewhere. Fantastic gospel music. I turned the corner and – wouldn’t you know – it was coming from...The Salvation Army. It sounded so good. They’d left the front doors open (a great idea), so I went up and had a little look in to see a big gospel concert and what looked like a full hall. Lots of people stopped to listen as they walked by. I’m convinced that gospel music is the way forward (certainly not at the expense of other styles – but I’m still planning to get that gospel choir up and going in the new year!) and if I hadn’t already decided I was going to go to a different Salvation Army corps on the Sunday, I would have gone there.

The Saturday of my time in Copenhagen also happened to be the Saturday of the Eurovision Song Contest. Those of you who visit this blog regularly (and those of you who don’t read this blog regularly, but are reading this line) will be aware that I’m a bit of a Eurovision fan (see here and here and here), but I’ve been very good and not said very much about it this year... I’ll sum up my thoughts with a few bullet points:

* Poland must be a very sunny country;

* The winner from Russia achieved new levels of self-adoration. I’m fairly sure that if it was announced that I’d won the Eurovision Song Contest, the first thing I would do would not be to take my shirt off (I’d probably be quite surprised, because I’ve never entered). The song was... alright, but every second it went on it became more and more tacky. And was he singing about Lee Mead? (‘There is not a Lee Mead to what I can do’?) If so, extra points for mentioning an Essex celebrity;

* What was interesting this year is that instead of the usual male-female presenting team, this year’s male presenter was accompanied by a cyborg. A cyborg who also welcomed us to the Belgrade;

* Norway recovered from what can only be described as a truly horrific opening lyric to become a great song. It had my money;

* The interval acts were in keeping with the grand tradition of Eurovision interval acts and sucked. One man seemed to be singing about gas;

* I had the choice of Swedish, Danish and German commentary, so I did a bit of switching as the evening went on. The highlight was the lack of Terry Wogan on any of them :)
While waiting for Eurovision to start I had a little walk around Tivoli Gardens. In all honesty it took me nearly half an hour to find my way out again.Part Three to follow...