Ceci n'est pas une blog.

While I was travelling home from our trip to Malaysia last month, I was struck again by what a disorganised pain in the botty it is to go through all those stages of ticketing / passport control / security checks / customs... especially when I found myself in a transit airport struggling to find my passport while at the same time removing my belt and putting all my bits and pieces on the security conveyor belt - then ten seconds later I had to struggle to find my boarding pass while at the same time holding up my trousers and trying to recover stuff from the *other* side of the same security belt.

I'd already gone through a similar rigmarole when I arrived in that airport a short while earlier. And before that it had happened when I'd left Malaysia.

So here's my manifesto for a set of improvements so global air travel stops driving all their passengers mad:

Read more...

Boring nerdy computer rant, sorry:

Read more...

I was expecting to hate Sarko and his policies when he was voted in, but in fact the more "blunders" he makes the more I find myself agreeing with him.

This time, he's being attacked by the French unions for... telling the truth!

He says that strikes have no effect in France, which is exactly what I've felt and found myself saying since I moved here.

I remember strikes in the UK during the seventies... where the whole country shut down for days at a time.

I remember strikes and protests in the Netherlands, which were rare and consequently important occurences.


Then I come to France - and I swear there is a strike or protest here in Toulouse at least once a month!

What the heck is the point of that?!?

Only two weeks ago, I cycled through the middle of Blagnac on my way to work and found the road in chaos and police blocking the street. Everyone looked resigned and annoyed rather than curious or worried - probably not an accident then. Sure enough, a moment later about fifty teenagers (schoolkids, I think) came round the corner chanting. Everyone ignores them as they turn up the radio, call work to say they're late or turn round to find an alternative route.

A couple of weeks before that the union at my company called for (yet another) strike (none of my colleagues took part, as far as I know), a few weeks before that there was something else blocking public transport for a day, before that were the taxi drivers, before that were the public services, before that were the students, etc. etc. etc.


I'm genuinely surprised that any organisations take the slightest bit of notice of their employees striking, since it seems to happen at the slightest disagreement - rather than indicating a time when ALL employees have a genuine feeling of "things are *really* intolerable" - which is the only time a strike should take place, in my opinion. Oddly though, it seems to be part of standard negotiating here.

And the thing that pisses me off about it is the way the strikers seem to take great pleasure in causing hardship to innocent people who have absolutely nothing to do with their cause... businessmen stuck in airports by striking air traffic control, holidaymakers from the rest of Europe trapped for hours on the roads by farmers, fisherman preventing ferries from reaching their ports, etc.

Notice a trend here? Yes: ruining foreigners' holidays is a great way to make friends and dispel France's image of being lazy and selfish. Not.

Compare that to the recent bus-drivers strike in the Netherlands... where public transport ran as usual - but the drivers just didn't charge the passengers! Hits the company hard, good PR for the drivers' cause. *THAT'S* how to hold a strike!


http://www.expatica.com/fr/articles/news/Sarkozy_s-_little-effect_-strike-comments-upset-unions.html

Would you believe it? My saga of bad luck with bikes continues... I didn't bother detailing the many little bike-issues I've dealt with since my last rant - but to summarise:

• replaced my entire rear-wheel due to continued problems with tyres after it was slightly dented by the big chain-off accident a year ago (may have reported this one, don't remember)
• new brakes all round (also for Jazz's bike)
• countless sets of light-bulbs replaced
• a couple more tyres and inner-tubes for me
• several sets of rear-view mirrors for Jazz's bike, which keep getting snapped off or smashed
• fixed puncture on Jazz's bike... two days later it burst again (turned out to be a small tear in the tyre which required a new tyre and yet another inner-tube). While walking all the way home on that occasion, I managed to drop her bike while trying to fix her lights... and that smashed her mirror again. Then it started raining. Sigh.
• after finding out the rear light wasn't working (again), I managed to catch the dynamo on my jeans and rip it off the bike! Then after replacing that and fixing the light I found that the wire to the rear light was broken. Then after making a temporary fix for that the rear light popped off at a bump in the company car-park and was promptly run over by a car.
• Jazz and I collided when she and I thought we were going in different directions at a junction... her mirror snaps off. On the way back that same evening, she crashes into me while staring at the stars. Falls off, rear bulb broken, scratches to bike and a very nasty graze on her knee.
• oh yeah... my brakes are worn through again and damaging the wheel rim - so another fix required soon.

So that's everything up until last weekend... when (wait for it) HER BIKE GOT STOLEN! Yes, it finally happened. We cycled to the metro station and went into town for shopping... and when we got back we came out of the lift, turned to the bike-park then stopped and stared thinking "wasn't the bike somewhere here?". Yes, it was... but no, it wasn't. It seems a number of bikes had their locks cut and were cycled away - so it must have been a planned raid by a gang... at around six to seven in the evening on a busy Saturday!!! A time when you'd least expect it, since there were people walking around there all the time. Thank goodness they seem to have taken one bike every couple of metres along the rack, because they took Jazz's but left mine (which wast right next to hers). Here's a shot of the bike (and lock) during happier times... and here's what they did to the lock: Obviously Jazz is very upset and doesn't want to leave a bike there again. I think we'll have to go back to cycling there after a period of mourning, since it's a five minute cycle ride instead of a twenty-minute walk. But first we'll buy her the cheapest, ugliest bike we can, then we'll get a bloody great "fuck-off" solid-steel lock for it! The kind you see a lot in Holland - like a huge padlock. I believe those are much harder to cut than cable or chains, which should make the thieves choose someone else's bike instead! In any case, I'm going to print up some warning posters and stick them around there to warn people. It's not the first time I've seen cut locks left on that rack...

I just bought a Mars bar (since I am skipping lunch due to having to do some administrative stuff this morning and because the snack machine is out of sandwiches) and was curious because it said: "nouveau, coeur fondant" on the outside.

Well... just like the terrible idea of taking the classic Coke taste that people had enjoyed for decades and making it sweeter and more generic - they've taken the classic Mars taste that people have enjoyed for decades and made it sweeter and more generic!!!

The nice brown chocolatey sludge under the caramel layer is now a sweet & sticky white sludge instead. It's just like the other "own-brand" imitations and is simply not as nice. Why?!? Why change something that was obviously "right", judging by fifty years of popularity?

I seem to recall that they did the exact same change to Milky Bars a few years ago. I don't know about you, but I never ate Milky Bars after that and I haven't seen one in a shop in ages - hey, that's a good idea; let's kill Mars Bars just like we did Milky Bars!



(P.S. be careful when you type Milky Bars... one slip of the keys and I was almost getting a lot of traffic from people wanting to see young mothers engaged in naughty activities!!! )