Wrong Priorities
Thought for the day “Light travels faster than sound. That’s why some people appear bright until they speak”
“If you can’t see the bright side of life, polish the dull side” (Rowan Atkinson).
Amazing to read again in the Norwegian newspapers that the police have arrested another foreign tourist for flying a drone. This time is was over the capital city of Oslo, as reported here –
https://www.nrk.no/nyheter/en-person-pagrepet-etter-droneflygning-i-oslo–1.16697099
What is amazing is that while a tourist flying a small drone (presumably causing no damage) gets arrested, on the streets below people can be seen openly selling drugs and injecting themselves. If, as the Norwegian Police keep saying, they do not have the resources to investigate many crimes in Norway, then why are they focussing on tourists flying drones??? Surely a much more SERIOUS issue is the open selling of hard drugs on the streets in the city centre (especially the areas around Storgata and Gronland) ? If you have limited resources then why focus on trivial ‘crimes’ (and I would not consider flying a small drone over most of Oslo a crime) then why not focus on the SERIOUS issues like hard drugs? There are also the other serious crimes, like the increase in knife attacks in the city, but Norwegian Police are arresting tourists flying drones. My experience when contacting the police in Norway is that their standard answer seems to be that they do not have the resources to investigate. I can guess why.
It seems to me that the Norwegian Police are concentrating on the ‘easy’ targets like tourists flying drones and motorists driving a few km/h over the speed limit, instead of the SERIOUS crimes like selling or using hard drugs. Surely, somebody using a knife in an attack or selling heroin should be targeted BEFORE a tourist flying a drone ???
Today’s photo is Winter in Norway, with cold and clear weather in the town of Honefoss in South Norway.
And another photo from the archives, the driver of the BRB steam train waits for his next trip up the Rothorn mountain in Brienz, Switzerland.
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Censorship and Freedom of Speech
Thought for the day….”Turn your face to the sun and the shadow falls behind you.”
“Striving for sucess without hard work is like trying to harvest when you have not planted.”
People often criticize countries such as China for restricting freedom of speech and people’s freedoms. But now the governments around the World are being just as bad as any dictatorship. Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are now censoring posts which do not comply with the official government line or which question vaccines or controls. So even when there is scientific evidence, people are being stopped from publicly questioning governments. And governments now are using coronavirus as an excuse to introduce all sorts of controls and restrictions on freedom that would never have been accepted before. People fought two World Wars so that generations could have freedom, yet now those very freedoms for which they fought (and sometimes died) and being taken away by politicians. Many, many years ago, I was taught in school an important lesson which I have never forgotten….that is to never believe everything that people tell you. Very good advice. So now when I see statistics then I am careful. And when I see the likes of Twitter, Facebook and YouTube removing posts which go against what the politicians are promoting, then I am very, very suspicious. We are already well down a very slippery slope.
Great light and mood in this photo from Glenorchy in New Zealand, looking towards the Mount Aspiring National Park and both the Dart and the Rees valleys.
and another photo from the archives, Zebras drinking at a waterhole in Namibia –
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South Island beauty, Southern Alps of New Zealand
Thought for the day…”Reach for the stars, even if you have to stand on a cactus”
“The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless.”
The beauty of the South Island of New Zealand with some fantastic weather. The river here, the Waimakariri, is one of three rivers which cut through the Southern Alps. The main east-west road and also the trans-alpine railway follow this river for many kilometres. In just a few km from where this photo was taken, the vegetation changes from dry grasslands and bushes to the rainforest of the (wet) West Coast. This area was also the area where the extinct moa bird was said to have been seen by two locals in 1993, leading to a mini tourist boom. The fact that these two locals were about to take over the running of the local pub near where the ‘moa’ had been seen may just have been coincidence !! Nowadays you are more likely to see fishermen by the river and hunters in the hills after wild boar or deer.
and another photo from the archives…an intense stare from this boy in a market in Sri Lanka
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Lufthansa German Airlines group and Economy class travel
Thought for the day…”Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get.”
“A certain amount of opposition is a great help to a man. Kites rise against, not with, the wind.”
Too many companies are using coronavirus as an excuse now. Often it is being used to cover up their own failures but the excuse of coronavirus is being overused. Joining the bandwagon of companies blaming (conveniently) coronavirus is the Lufthans group (LH) airlines. Now this is why I am getting angry…..according to Lufthansa, they are no longer giving ECONOMY class passengers tea, coffee or food on flights of less than 150 minutes. This is to protect “your health and the health of our employees”
https://www.lufthansa.com/ch/en/current-onboard-services#short-haul
BUT if you are travelling Business class then you will still get food and drink. Now would the managers at Lufthansa like to tell me why Business class passengers are not seen as any risk whereas Economy class passengers are seen as a risk? Or is the real reason that Lufthansa just wants to save money and is conveniently using coronavirus as an excuse to make further cuts to Economy class services? I know which answer my money is on. And also why do Lufthansa no longer service food when other airlines ARE still serving food to economy class passengers?
Companies should stop trying to blame coronavirus for everything. Be honest with customers, and if you are going to cut out meals and drinks for Economy class passenger then BE HONEST and tell us the real reason….to save money. Do not try and blame it on coronavirus. We are not stupid.
And another photo from the archives, Ometepe in Nicaragua at sunset….
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Go Pro Be Gone
Thought for the day “Too many people miss the silver lining because they’re expecting gold.”
“The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless.”
Go Pro make some good action cameras. But so do a lot of other companies (such as Garmin, which I own). My recent experience of GoPro Customer ‘service’ has made me determined that I will never buy a Go Pro product. Indeed, GoPro and Customer ‘service’ should not be used in the same sentence, as if you have tried to resolve anything with them online then you will know that ‘service’ is probably the opposite of what you will receive. Can you imagine an international company that REFUSES to accept emails? This is the 21st century, yet Go Pro will nicely send you an email telling you that they do not accept emails. How stupid is that? And if you dare to try their online chat (only available during certain hours), apart from the unhelpful ‘assistants’ (and that is the wrong word for them) then you may find that the conversation conveniently (for Go Pro) gets cut off. So they refuse to accept emails and their online chat will leave you searching for some (unprintable) words.
So the end result of all this frustration and failed emails…..I will not be buying anymore Go Pro cameras. Plenty of good alternatives out there (such as InstaOne and Garmin). If Go Pro will not accept emails then they will not be seeing any of my money. Bad customer service drives customers away, and it has done. Go Pro be gone.
Two photos from Stavanger in Western Norway for the pictures today. The first photo is of the Old Town which is next to the harbour. Normally these streets would be full of tourists and visitors from cruise ships, but because of coronavirus, are mercifully quiet at the moment. Add to that Spring sunshine and it is easy to get some great photos.
and staying in Stavanger for another photo, interesting shapes and colours on the waterfront. Both photos taken with the Fuji X-T30 camera and 18-55mm kit lens.
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The positive side of coronavirus
Thought for the day…”Curiosity will conquer fear even more than bravery will.”
“Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
Despite all the doom and gloom at the moment, there are some positive sides to coronavirus. Staff in shops and cafes have become noticeably better recently, and are happy to serve you now. Not only that but they have time to help and, with the lack of customers, are actually trying to help out. Shops and cafes have become more polite, with people waiting patiently in spaced-out queues. Cafes have started putting most items in plastic to prevent contamination, hand disinfectant is now common and for the time being, people are being very good at using disinfectants. And another bonus, the enforced free time is giving some of us some a great opportunity to catch up on things that previously we never had time for. So it is not all negative at the moment !! Stay safe.
The southbound Oslo to Kiel ferry passing the coast of Norway at Drobak.
and another photo from the archives….sunrise captured with the Fuji X-T30
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Joys of travelling
Thought for the day…”Reach for the stars, even if you have to stand on a cactus”
It is the set of the sails, not the direction of the wind that determines which way we will go.”
The joys of travelling….exciting new places and destinations. But it is not always fun. One of my pet hates (one of many) is that hotels often do not have a list of TV channels. Given that some hotels can have upwards of 100 channels, why can they not put a list in the room to save endless channel surfing trying to find the 5 or 6 interesting channels?? A simple card or print out listing the channels would be so good. And linked to this pet hate are hotel TVs that as soon as start them are at maximum volume, hardly ideal for a hotel when guests are trying to sleep.
Next pet hate……Many hotels are no longer giving the small bottles of shampoo and conditioner or individual soap, preferring to have dispensers on the walls instead. All very well IF the hotel refills them but so often just when you are in the shower you discover that the dispensers are empty.
And staying with hotels and pet hates…..the annoying habit that more and more hotels are only putting in one rubbish bin/trash can in the whole room and bathroom. Saves them a little money, but is hardly good for the guest experience.
Another hate….modern hotels whose managers have decided that THEY know the temperature that guests want the rooms to be at, and have removed individual temperature controls in the rooms….I am seeing this more and more and it is also not good for the guest experience.
Topping the list of pet hates for hotels…..any hotel that has slow internet or has a poor internet signal in the room deserves to go out of business….no excuse for this in the 21st century. Excuses such as “it is the number of guests in the hotel” or “it is the rainy weather” just get me irritated. It is not rocket science to get fast, reliable internet in a hotel, but it seems to be a major problem for some hotels.
The list goes on….to be continued………
Today’s photo is of the lakefront in Pembroke, South Island, New Zealand, on a perfect Summer’s evening. One man and his dog admire the view….
and another photo from the archives…..driving hazards on the roads of Scandinavia….these are a much bigger problem at night when they tend to freeze in the car headlights. A male elk can be over 300 kg, so can cause a lot of damage to a car.
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Oslo to Copenhagen ferry
Thought for the day..”Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton was the one who asked why.”
“It is not the strongest of the species which survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change” Charles Darwin
Oslo harbour and the ferry which goes between Norway and the Danish capital, Copenhagen. Prices onboard this boat have gone up a lot, and the journey time has also been increased, making the trip now more expensive and also slower. This boat was previously owned by Viking Line, and sailed from Sweden to Finland. Whilst the ferry was previously a good option, with the high prices onboard and also with the improved road connections to Denmark, it is no longer a good option. Quite why the company thought that slowing the trip down was a good idea is a mystery, as is the logic of increasing the prices onboard. Just like the airlines, DFDS have started to charge for things (eg. internet onboard and the bus connections to/from the boat) that used to be included in the ticket price. It appears that nearly all the public seating onboard has also been removed, presumably to try and force people into the bars and restaurants onboard to spend more money. Sad to see the decline in standards on these ferries now, and the need to pay extra for so many things. The kayakkers had a great view of the ferry though……
and another photo…A dramatic sunrise over the hills of Pembroke, New Zealand. Great cloud formations are not unusual on the South Island of New Zealand due to the prevailing winds crossing the Southern Alps, which often leads to banding and wave clouds. Add that to the first sun of the day and the result is a great photo.
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Boats and planes, Morocco and Madeira
Thought for the day…” Reach for the stars, even if you have to stand on a cactus”.
” Too many people miss the silver lining because they’re expecting gold.”
A photo of an Airbus A320 about to land at Funchal, Madeira for the photo today. This aircraft was involved in an emergency descent on 8th July 2014 when on a flight from Lisbon to Amsterdam. The aircraft declared an emergency and descended rapidly from FL380 (38 000 feet) down to 10 000 feet. The passenger oxygen masks were deployed, but the aircraft landed without further problems. This aircraft regularly does 5 flights during a single day, and is seen here at one of it’s regular airports, Funchal. It was flying at around 130 knots (240 km/h) when the photo was taken. 
And another photo out of the archives…fishing boats in Essouria, Morocco. Spot the figure on one of the boats….
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Road rage, air rage and now airport rage
Thought for the day…”The hardest thing is to take less when you can get more.” “Obstacles are things a person sees when he takes his eyes off his goal.”
Road rage has now spread to airports as well. The security checks, long queues and long waits and hassles over baggage mean that people are more stressed than ever. Airlines have shot themselves in the foot by charging for baggage, as now you see people trying to drag on as much as they can…not uncommon to see them with 3 and sometimes 4 bags. Airline policies may be wrong, and a lot of the things that airlines are now doing ARE unreasonable, but what is not fair is when you see people’s anger at airports directed at the wrong people – the people working on the check-in desks or at the gate. These are not the people who have made the rules, they are the ones who are given the unfortunate task to enforce them though. So it is sad to see passengers at airports getting angry with the wrong people, especially as many of them work for ground companies who are only contracted by the airlines. By all means get angry with the airlines and the people who have made the mistakes, but make sure that the anger is directed at the correct people. The person in front of you at the desk or gate may not be the right one.
Late afternoon low sunlight lights up the main street of Brienz, Switzerland for the photo today. Many of the houses in this area date from the 1700s.
and another photo from the archives – a boat waits at Brienz, Switzerland for the return trip to Interlaken.
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Flags of Convenience
Thought for the day….”A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down.”
“The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.”
There is an interesting story in the news in Norway at the moment about Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) overselling seats for the summer. SAS has set up an Irish based division (SIAL) and uses cheaper, Irish contracts to avoid Norwegian taxes. But the plan seems to have backfired, as many staff have left the new Irish division because of lower pay and also having to work longer hours. It is unfair that companies like SAS can use ‘flags of convenience’ to circumvent local procedures. Same job, same aircraft and same routes, but different levels of salary for the same work, all because of flags of convenience. So SAS have been left in a position where they have sold many more seats than they have staff to operate because of a lack of staff. I hope that all those passengers persue claims under the EU 261/2004 regulations. The same thing happened in shipping previously, now it is spreading to other areas too. Cheapest is not always best, and the same work should get the same pay.
Two colourful photos from Fiji for the photos today….
and another photo, a Fokker 100 aircraft seen here in Papua New Guinea, about to fly from Mount Hagen back to the capital Port Moresby.
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Not doing it, not for fun anyway
Thought for the day..”You can’t expect to hit the jackpot if you don’t put a few nickels in the machine.”
“Words are often seen hunting for an idea, but ideas are never seen hunting for words.”
Just had an email from an online travel agency trying to encourage me to book some cheap HOLIDAY flights. The prices were very good and the destinations interesting….Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Entebbe (Uganda), Nairobi (Kenya) etc. Stress the word ‘holiday’ for these flights. But when you read the details, the flights arrive at around 0200 or 0300, returning at around 0300 or 0400. Now on holiday, I like to enjoy normal sleep, so these cheap flights would ruin at least 2 nights sleep. Arriving at 0200 in a foreign country (especially a place like Nairobi or Johannesburg) is not only no fun, but also dangerous too. And the thought of a departure around 0300 or 0400 means another ruined night. All of this for a HOLIDAY, which is supposed to be a time to relax and enjoy. So this time, I will pass over these cheap offers….life is too short to have this sort of cruelty on holiday. And the good thing….holidays are optional, so I can choose better flight timings. Many birds do not fly at night, and for good reasons. I like my sleep too ! And I like to enjoy my holidays too. Good luck to those who choose these cheap offers…..arriving into somewhere like Nairobi (sometimes called ‘Nai-Robbery) at 0200 then they are going to need it.
A peaceful evening at this bay on Praslin island, Seychelles for the photo today….
and another photo from the archives…a railman looks on as a railtour backs into Penzance station, in the far west of England
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Walking and texting, driving & texting, should be banned – moan for today.
Thought for the day…”Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face.”
“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”
Are you one of those people who walk down the street with their head permanently fixed on their mobile phone?? I have given up moving out of the way for these people who walk with no regard for anybody else who is walking towards them. Numerous videos on Youtube of people who have walked into fountains and off piers whilst they used their mobile phone. Even worse are those people who you see cycling and driving whilst texting at the same time. Asking for trouble. The trend seems to be getting worse in cafes and restaurants too, where the mobile phone is THE centre of attention. Full marks to the cafes and restaurants who are now trying to restrict the use of mobile phones. One bar in Pembroke, New Zealand has a sign up saying “we do not have internet, TALK to each other “. Let us hope that more cafes and bars follow suit.
And the photo today is from Sydney, Australia, where there used to be an ex-Russian MiG 15 fighter that you could go flying in. Not much space in the cockpit !! Despite being an early jet fighter, it could fly at over 1000 km/h and it could fly up to 2500km. It could also climb to over 50 000 feet/15500m.
and another photo from the archives….sailing boats line up to start a race…..
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The Worm Has Turned.
Thought for the day…”If moderation is a fault, then indifference is a crime.”
“Power is like being a lady… if you have to tell people you are, you aren’t.” (Margaret Thatcher).
When I was 16 years old, I would always shop around for the cheapest (as students do), with little thought for quality or service. But now it is the opposite. I cannot understand why Ryanair (which is so often on the internet or newspapers for cancelling flights or upsetting passengers) is still in business. There are so many people who will automatically go for the cheapest airline ticket, with no thought about quality or service. Ryanair can upset thousands of passengers, yet still makes large profits. When an airline upsets me (and many have) then they lose my business for good. I vote with my feet. Plenty of airlines out there, and those that mistreat passengers do not deserve business. But why do people keep flying with Ryanair? Cheap is not always good. Service costs money to provide, but by paying more, you can often avoid problems. Airlines such as Singapore Airlines are not the cheapest, but the service levels and reliability (and inflight experience) are FAR better. If more people voted with their feet then average service levels would go up, as airlines such as Ryanair and Air Asia would be out of business. Same thing with the airlines who are now putting 10 across seats into their Boeing 777 aircraft. If more people refused to fly on these cramped aircraft then the airlines would be forced to go back to 9 across. But too many people want the CHEAPEST. But some of us are saying no, and are voting with our feet/money.
A photo from Aruba, in the Southern Caribbean for the photo today..
and another photo from the archives…beautiful coastline around Antigua, Caribbean……
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