When national newspapers and travel periodicals post reviews of a particular Austrian or Slovenian resort, or a certain aspect of one such as a new hut to hut trail or multi-peak walk, articles are usually concluded with where the author stayed, and how he or she arrived. Although a London-centric media will invariably seek to…
Kitzbuehel: A little piece of everything that makes Austria special, all under one roof
My previous visit to Kitzbuehel could hardly be regarded as an unqualified success. Opting to stay on the edge of town albeit in an elevated position on the edge of forest sounded to be an idyllic setting, and whilst the aspect from my 'forest view' room afforded some pleasing glimpses of local wildlife, the terrace…
Oetzi the Iceman – 30 years on
Thirty years is a long time in the lives of most people but to Oetzi, the mummified iceman monikered as such due to the location of his discovery, it represents barely a blink of an eye in the timeline from when he roamed the high alps to the present day, via his introduction to the…
Neil Critchley comes full circle back to the Seaside, but is he a busted flush?
It is not without irony that the author of the recently published book The Patron Saint of Second Chances is a Simon; Christine Simon, to be exact. Why the irony? Well, another Simon, Blackpool FC's owner and chairman, Simon Sadler, has just given the third manager of his four-year tenure at the club a second…
Blackpool: A No Holds Barred Window Into the Realities and Stark Future of Modern Britain
On a recent visit to Blackpool I pondered if the town represented a microcosm of modern Britain as a whole, or at the every least its coastal offering. I concluded that both columns A and B were epitomised, with some characteristics overlapping whilst others being particularly unique to the seaside. Either way, it made for…
The serious problem seemingly overlooked in the stampede for Smart Meters
The dual sunsetting in the UK of 2 and 3G connectivity by 2033 seemingly come as a pair, but the phasing out of mobile telephony's third iteration is a great deal more simple than that of its predecessor. Although there has been some consternation regarding the fate of those who rely on 3G, a miniscule…
Imminent 3G switch off muddled by the absence of a multilateral, sector-led approach
The issue with Ofcom's commitment to sunset all second and third generation connectivity within the UK by 2033 is a lack of coordination between operators, in effect and for example where providers will begin the process of phasing out 3G such as Vodafone's current drive to move applicable customers to a minimum of 4G-enabled handsets.…
Bohinj seeking to counter the worst effects of mass tourism
It has been said that some residents of the Salzkammergut village of Hallstatt in Austria resort to dining in motorway service stations to avoid the crowds of tourists that flock to a picture postcard perfect location which in its own way is becoming similarly beleaguered, and held hostage, just as is now commonplace in Venice…
Opinion: Simon Sadler’s Unenviable Blackpool FC ‘to do’ list
A season that only ranks second in calamitousness to the Jose Riga/Lee Clark-debacle of 2014/2015, the mercifully soon to end current campaign has seen Blackpool lurch from one footballing disaster to the next. Why the season played out in such a way is one thing, how it can be expeditiously rectified is quite another. In…
Blackpool FC 2022/23 season: I’m Glad It’s All Over
Barring the type of mathematical quirk that would bring into question the integrity of the competition, Blackpool will start next season in the third tier of English football. It has been a long time coming and isn't a surprise, but to somehow drag out the agony until the last home game of the season seems…
Rare Blackpool away victory prolongs the agony for another week, but relegation is almost certain
They think it's all over - but is it? Remarkably, Blackpool still retain an albeit slight chance of avoiding the relegation trapdoor into League One, however underserved it may be. Yesterday's fortuitous victory at Birmingham City, a first away win since October, will not have exactly given renewed hope to a beleaguered fanbase, but has…
Slow uptake of 5G will not prevent a push towards its successor, but enabled handsets unlikely to be sixth generation paydirt
It occurred to me that the six iterations of mobile connectivity - I am being somewhat presumptuous regarding 6G but it will arrive - inadvertently operate(d) in pairs. By this I consider that 2G was the natural successor to the initial forerunner of mobile telephone usage, with the advent of 3G being a gamechanger that…
Blackpool turn up but predictably tune out as the trap door opens yet wider
'That's why we're going down' The 2022/2023 season in a nutshell - encapsulated within the first 45 minutes of last night's 2-0 defeat to a decidedly ordinary West Bromwich Albion. An all too familiar tale of promising build up play - well, this rarely happened under Mick McCarthy - chances missed that were easier to…
Race to the bottom: Blackpool and Wigan play out an aesthetic abomination befitting their likely relegation
It has been such an appalling 2023 for Blackpool that their only two league victories in the calendar year, secured against Stoke City and Queens Park Rangers, have in part been precipitated by fast starts. That is of course where the similarities between the respective positive outcomes ended, but such are the low expectations currently…
Catalogue of errors ushers Mick McCarthy back into retirement, and Blackpool to League One
It would be incorrect of me to state that Blackpool are being relegated into League One only because of the disastrous appointment of Mick McCarthy, but it certainly went a long way to seal the club's fate. Found on the golf course and dragged away from grandparent duties, McCarthy had little if any clue about…
Blackpool sink to depths that could have been avoided, but have stability that many in the Championship could only dream of
Viewed in isolation, Blackpool had to at the very least redeem themselves for the shameful surrender at Deepdale the previous week. It was all the more surprising that 11,500 home fans turned up for the visit of Cardiff, although many will now wonder when they will again see their team in the Championship. There is…
Blackpool succumb to McCarthy’s decision-making and an average Preston side
Pick the best players available to have any chance of winning, or at least not losing. Simple, homespun, footballing wisdom which necessitates the putting aside of egos for the greater good. Sadly, Blackpool's manager Mick McCarthy has still not been able to grasp this truism as from what was akin to viewing a car crash…
The real Blackpool stand up but fall badly as relegation looks all but certain
I noted after Blackpool's six-goal defeat of Queens Park Rangers that Gareth Ainsworth's freefalling side were ideal opponents against whom Blackpool could reboot their season. Could the Seasiders take such a confidence boosting victory into their final ten games, starting with the visit of Coventry City? The answer was an emphatic no. It turned out…
The UK continues to miss out on aviational connectivity with Slovenia
In the post-Adria Airways era and as the world continues to emerge from the devastating and all-encompassing effects of the novel coronavirus, Slovenia continues to identify the challenges it must overcome to reconnect the Central European state with the wider world. As though has become abundantly clear: identifying is one thing; overcoming is quite another.…
Gary Madine
"He's Gary Madine; he's a goal machine; signed him on a free; hey, hey, hey" There has always been a sizeable amount of irony about the above chant - a goal machine is something Madine has never been. As free transfers go he must though rank as one of Blackpool's better, especially considering that his…
Blackpool’s seismic victory extends the last chance saloon’s opening hours
With hindsight, Queens Park Rangers were ideal opponents against whom Blackpool's season could be thrown a lifeline. A side with one victory in the last fourteen albeit achieved last time out against Watford, on their third manager of the season and a midweek trip to a cold seaside had all the makings of not an…
Bohinj must protect its natural assets – lake deep and mountain high
Much of the area rather misleadingly simply described as Bohinj is protected by national park designation - under the aegis of the Triglav National Park (TNP) authority. Affording levels of shielding from many of the ways of the modern world, the TNP centres its inner core on Lake Bohinj, a jewel that must continually be…
The Sky TV cameras don’t lie: supine Blackpool’s surrender in Bristol a microcosm of a disastrous season
On life support and with the fat lady tuning up in the wings, Blackpool's season continues to hang by a thread which should have been severed weeks ago. That it hasn't highlights what a poor division the Championship is, as games come and go where the Seasiders' could throw themselves a lifeline, but continually fail…
Alpine Adventures, Soccer, Central Asian Autocracies & Secessionist Politics 
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