No, really i am.
She lived long enough to see her Capitalist experiment finally fail. It teetered before, but this time its dead. When Henry Paulson gets on his knees (according to Fox News of all people) in front of Nancy Pelosi and BEGS THE DEMOCRATS to accept his proposals, so that he can ignore the Republicans saying "leave it to the markets to sort themselves out..."
Well its a strange kind of day. I just hope that the no doubt immigrant carer who daily smears ointment into Thatcher's scales and trims her talons has the economic knowledge and enough English to explain to her that this all started with Keith Joseph. (Is he still alive - i think he died but then i dont remember the street party??)
As long as the carer can do that, then let her pass quietly into the dark night. We have no more use for her in this world. And state funeral? Bank Holiday i think....
Friday, 26 September 2008
Wednesday, 24 September 2008
Nietzsche
Should really explain the quote of the day from the guy with the impossible to spell surname.
I'm not a Nazi. I just have to respect a man with limitless arrogance and self confidence, who is not afraid to tell people just how brilliant he is.
Have recently read his pamphlet "Why I Am So Wise" and it was sensational. It is about 80 pages detailing every way in which he is superior to every other human. He is my new role model. At one point he descibes how he weeps every time he thinks about how horrible it must be for everyone else not to be him.
Genius.
And for those who know me, they will understand i have found my master :)
I'm not a Nazi. I just have to respect a man with limitless arrogance and self confidence, who is not afraid to tell people just how brilliant he is.
Have recently read his pamphlet "Why I Am So Wise" and it was sensational. It is about 80 pages detailing every way in which he is superior to every other human. He is my new role model. At one point he descibes how he weeps every time he thinks about how horrible it must be for everyone else not to be him.
Genius.
And for those who know me, they will understand i have found my master :)
Where next?
One of the advantages of this new job is the opportunity to get to some new countries. For me the 90s were a blur of travel, and 30 or more countries were visisted in next to no time. And then there was a lull, with only Ireland and Denmark added in about 8 years. All that is set to change as i look at my roster for the end of the year... Was talk of going to Russia and far eastern Siberia, but that seems to have been replaced by 3 weeks in Belgium! But i still have weeks planned in Malta and Cyprus which i seem to have missed on my travels, and suddenly a week in the Cape Verde Islands has also appeared on the list. I have no clue where they even are..
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/cape-verde/
Official language is Portuguese so must be somewhere between Lisbon and Rio... Looks like all flights are via Lisbon so can add Portugal to the list too!
Should also be some work coming up with CityJet in Dublin, which will give me a chance to catch up with some old friends. Will be strange going there with the new hat on, but looking forward to it.
Will be good to get stuck into some serious project work again, back to Bodo on Sunday for another week with the very hospitable Norwegians and some more stunning scenery and biting winds!
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/cape-verde/
Official language is Portuguese so must be somewhere between Lisbon and Rio... Looks like all flights are via Lisbon so can add Portugal to the list too!
Should also be some work coming up with CityJet in Dublin, which will give me a chance to catch up with some old friends. Will be strange going there with the new hat on, but looking forward to it.
Will be good to get stuck into some serious project work again, back to Bodo on Sunday for another week with the very hospitable Norwegians and some more stunning scenery and biting winds!
Tuesday, 23 September 2008
musings
Sometimes life intrudes on you and you have to seriously consider whether humans are a race worth saving.
There is nothing quite like a talk radio phone in to really attract the lower end of the social scale. Its an emotive subject - why aren't more men committed on rape charges? The UK has the lowest conviction for rape in Europe with something crazy like 3% of reported rapes leading to a jail term for the aggressor. But then there are the worrying stats - we have the highest number of false allegations. What drives someone to accuse someone of one of the worst things you can possibly think of? The stories of men losing everything to clear their name, contrasted with the women who reported an assault and were told by a cheery WPC to have a cup of tea and get over it... Its not just the actions of men that can make womens' lives hell - every false accusation probably leads to a dozen guilty men being presumed innocent "cos she was asking for it... she shouldnt have gone in the house.... she was drunk...".
Banks. They make huge profits, we find out they were all based on tissue paper foundations and the first drop of rain brings down the industry. Lehman Bros move $8bn from their UK arm to their US for 2 reasons last week - first the UK administrators cant touch it, and second so they can PAY BONUSES to the American management. Yes, the same bank that has just been declared the largest bankrupt ever, is paying out over $2bn in corporate bonuses. And the world governments are bailing out the industry. Imagine if you took your year's salary and bought a speedboat, because your mate down the pub told you that in a year's time you could sell it for twice as much. And then in a year no one wanted to buy your speedboat. But you have to pay all your bills. The world would laugh at you and call you a fool for buying a speedboat. You would have to sell your house and be declared bankrupt. So why the hell is the UK government giving the banks over a hundered billion pounds????
Trident. $100bn. Do i need to say any more. I would love to hear a convincing argument for how nuclear missiles defend us from suicidal terrorists...
ID cards... finally the Labour party have started refering to them as a weapon against ID theft and not mentioning the weapon against terrorism angle. I think the idea was that if some mad fanatic hurled himself at you, laden with explosives, anthrax and body odour (an all too familiar sight on Britain's streets) you could show them your ID card and they wouldn't harm you... So now its a weapon against ID theft. Or surely just a new way of stealing IDs??? 30 million fake one pound coins in circulation and i dont know anyone who has one, so these fakers must be good.
Personal freedoms? Nah, who needs them any more? We are fighting so we can give Iraqi citizens a corrupt banking system, id cards and queues at airports.
Did anyone else notice the govt lost their court case the other week over the supposed liquid bombers? The reason we have all these stupid liquid restrictions at airports - that was thrown out when the evidence was actually examined by someone who isnt paid to generate fear and apprehension and make the public more acquiescent... But we still have the restrictions on liquids... Like the x-rays of shoes because one nutter proved that you can not set fire to shoes on an aeroplane... Even when the UK government introduces its eBorders that will be for airlines only to start with. Supposed to make the borders more secure, but the Chunnel and ferries will be exempt for years...
And what does Gordon Brown launch as his save his skin policy? Free theatre tickets for the Under 26s. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7630736.stm
But only to shows that dont sell - the talking point on talk radio seems to be "Bet you cant get tickets for Mamma Mia".
No, oh beloved nation. That is not the point. The point is we are all going to hell in a flaming one wheeled handcart with Satan at the reins and Sarah Palin cackling by his side, guns blazing, oil fires burning... and our Prime Minister wants to give out crap theatre tickets to young people. That will make them put the knives down...
There is nothing quite like a talk radio phone in to really attract the lower end of the social scale. Its an emotive subject - why aren't more men committed on rape charges? The UK has the lowest conviction for rape in Europe with something crazy like 3% of reported rapes leading to a jail term for the aggressor. But then there are the worrying stats - we have the highest number of false allegations. What drives someone to accuse someone of one of the worst things you can possibly think of? The stories of men losing everything to clear their name, contrasted with the women who reported an assault and were told by a cheery WPC to have a cup of tea and get over it... Its not just the actions of men that can make womens' lives hell - every false accusation probably leads to a dozen guilty men being presumed innocent "cos she was asking for it... she shouldnt have gone in the house.... she was drunk...".
Banks. They make huge profits, we find out they were all based on tissue paper foundations and the first drop of rain brings down the industry. Lehman Bros move $8bn from their UK arm to their US for 2 reasons last week - first the UK administrators cant touch it, and second so they can PAY BONUSES to the American management. Yes, the same bank that has just been declared the largest bankrupt ever, is paying out over $2bn in corporate bonuses. And the world governments are bailing out the industry. Imagine if you took your year's salary and bought a speedboat, because your mate down the pub told you that in a year's time you could sell it for twice as much. And then in a year no one wanted to buy your speedboat. But you have to pay all your bills. The world would laugh at you and call you a fool for buying a speedboat. You would have to sell your house and be declared bankrupt. So why the hell is the UK government giving the banks over a hundered billion pounds????
Trident. $100bn. Do i need to say any more. I would love to hear a convincing argument for how nuclear missiles defend us from suicidal terrorists...
ID cards... finally the Labour party have started refering to them as a weapon against ID theft and not mentioning the weapon against terrorism angle. I think the idea was that if some mad fanatic hurled himself at you, laden with explosives, anthrax and body odour (an all too familiar sight on Britain's streets) you could show them your ID card and they wouldn't harm you... So now its a weapon against ID theft. Or surely just a new way of stealing IDs??? 30 million fake one pound coins in circulation and i dont know anyone who has one, so these fakers must be good.
Personal freedoms? Nah, who needs them any more? We are fighting so we can give Iraqi citizens a corrupt banking system, id cards and queues at airports.
Did anyone else notice the govt lost their court case the other week over the supposed liquid bombers? The reason we have all these stupid liquid restrictions at airports - that was thrown out when the evidence was actually examined by someone who isnt paid to generate fear and apprehension and make the public more acquiescent... But we still have the restrictions on liquids... Like the x-rays of shoes because one nutter proved that you can not set fire to shoes on an aeroplane... Even when the UK government introduces its eBorders that will be for airlines only to start with. Supposed to make the borders more secure, but the Chunnel and ferries will be exempt for years...
And what does Gordon Brown launch as his save his skin policy? Free theatre tickets for the Under 26s. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7630736.stm
But only to shows that dont sell - the talking point on talk radio seems to be "Bet you cant get tickets for Mamma Mia".
No, oh beloved nation. That is not the point. The point is we are all going to hell in a flaming one wheeled handcart with Satan at the reins and Sarah Palin cackling by his side, guns blazing, oil fires burning... and our Prime Minister wants to give out crap theatre tickets to young people. That will make them put the knives down...
Sunday, 14 September 2008
XL Airways
Its been a sad weekend. A lot of friends have lost their jobs, and are wondering how to cope with the next mortgage payment, and the next fuel bill. The papers are full of stories of poor stranded passengers who are angry at something, someone, hoping to blame some invisible evil force. But they will get back from their extended holidays and, if they were typical XL passengers, will return to their lives of handouts, wife beating and whining. Most of them wont know what it is like to lose your livelihood, to lose all certainty and comfort and find yourself staring into the big black hole which is unemployment. Most were born on the social, and live a life of comfort making false claims and drinking cider. For those honest hard workers who have lost their jobs this week, they deserve something more than the incidental requiem that most of the media have given them - people stranded, money owing, big hassle, oh and 1700 on the dole..
And the stories of fuel and economic climate are depressingly inaccurate...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1055606/Two-airlines-flames-bankrupt-boss-driving-Bentley.html
It almost seems like they asked me for my comments on this one - fortunately those who know me would know i would not talk to the Daily Mail even on this one. What joy is there in being right? Very little at all... No one will ever be brought to book on this one, it will go down as fuel prices. Tomorrow I'm back to the old office to meet up with some former colleagues for lunch, to help where i can, in whatever way i can.
Its a sad day, lets think of the staff...
And the stories of fuel and economic climate are depressingly inaccurate...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1055606/Two-airlines-flames-bankrupt-boss-driving-Bentley.html
It almost seems like they asked me for my comments on this one - fortunately those who know me would know i would not talk to the Daily Mail even on this one. What joy is there in being right? Very little at all... No one will ever be brought to book on this one, it will go down as fuel prices. Tomorrow I'm back to the old office to meet up with some former colleagues for lunch, to help where i can, in whatever way i can.
Its a sad day, lets think of the staff...
Tuesday, 9 September 2008
Just told everyone this is here so i better type something...
Bodo is 67.17 degrees north, has a population of 46,049 and is approximately 22.8% woodland. The nearby Mt Lurfjelltind is 1284m tall.
These facts are reassuringly, brilliantly Scandinavian.
For anyone who has bought an IKEA wardrobe and wondered how they got the measurements just right, and how they thought of the strange little bracket fixing which defies physics... well they have a lot of darkness up here and they seem to spend it drinking vodka and measuring things. Actually the amount of vodka explains why they are good at counting things, but not so good at getting the wardrobe measurements just right...
Its week 2 at the new job, and after a week in Kista, a suburb of Stockholm which is also known as Science City as it is just a collection of Ericsson offices and factories, i am now in Bodo up near the top of Norway. Last week was useful, collecting laptop and phone and getting to know my way around the Sabre systems. Its an amazing change going from a company on its knees financially, to one who boasts of the best part of a billion dollars sitting in the bank. Its an American company, so the intranet is full of photos of middle aged Texan women who have knitted a blanket for the local hospital. or workers' daughters who have baked cookies to sell... all very admirable, and despite my legendary cynicism it actully warms the heart a little. Some of the Corporate stuff is a little too near satire, but i feel energised, incentifised, and have mastered the black cat / white cat scenario now.
And they were honest to me. I was bade welcome to the Sabre Drink Yourself to Death competition, and the drinking culture is certainly prevelant. Although much credit to the team, have felt no pressure to take part, and no scorn for dropping out like a girl after 2 pints. (Curiously a pint is 568 ml and beer in Scandinavia comes in 0.6 litre glasses - strange measurement for metric lands and too close to the English pint to be a coincidence) Tonight was a boat trip to the world's most violent maelstrom - its sunk a few large trawlers - on motorised dinghies, followed by a fish barbecue and the obligatory schnapps and lager festival. I have done my share of drinking, and i have no desire to get back on a boat that isnt at least 40 feet wide. I havent eaten fish for over 20 years, so seemed like on to sit out. So that is what i am doing here, curious how the guys are getting on. Scandinavian Aviation is fuelled literally by diesel - they put it in the aircraft, and any left over gets drunk...
So, Bodo (pronounced Boo-dah like the little fat God) - is it as dull as i painted it? Well, yes it is, but, and this is a huge but... its a cute little place and we all really like it. The hotel is about as ordinary as you can get, but the bed is comfortable, breakfast is ok, wireless is free... so nothing there to complain about. The town is quaint and workmanlike - the harbour is full of fishing boats, sails taken down and metal banging into metal in the wind. The sun is up most of the day, and in 3 months it will disappear for a whole fortnight. The locals are friendly and all speak better English than any Scot, and overall it really is a lovely little place. It is stuck out on the coast a bit like one of Norway's several coastal cities. The main road runs up parallel to the coast, but about 25 miles inland, and there are a few little fingers to the larger fishing ports which act as the outside world to the hundreds of villages dotted around. The spine of mountains runs the other side of the road, and on the other side of that sunlight disappears for months, temperatures plummet, and skiers abound. The airline we are working with, Widerhoe, get subsidies from the government to fly to dozens of these little villages. When someone there makes a hospital appointment they throw in a plane ticket!
These facts are reassuringly, brilliantly Scandinavian.
For anyone who has bought an IKEA wardrobe and wondered how they got the measurements just right, and how they thought of the strange little bracket fixing which defies physics... well they have a lot of darkness up here and they seem to spend it drinking vodka and measuring things. Actually the amount of vodka explains why they are good at counting things, but not so good at getting the wardrobe measurements just right...
Its week 2 at the new job, and after a week in Kista, a suburb of Stockholm which is also known as Science City as it is just a collection of Ericsson offices and factories, i am now in Bodo up near the top of Norway. Last week was useful, collecting laptop and phone and getting to know my way around the Sabre systems. Its an amazing change going from a company on its knees financially, to one who boasts of the best part of a billion dollars sitting in the bank. Its an American company, so the intranet is full of photos of middle aged Texan women who have knitted a blanket for the local hospital. or workers' daughters who have baked cookies to sell... all very admirable, and despite my legendary cynicism it actully warms the heart a little. Some of the Corporate stuff is a little too near satire, but i feel energised, incentifised, and have mastered the black cat / white cat scenario now.
And they were honest to me. I was bade welcome to the Sabre Drink Yourself to Death competition, and the drinking culture is certainly prevelant. Although much credit to the team, have felt no pressure to take part, and no scorn for dropping out like a girl after 2 pints. (Curiously a pint is 568 ml and beer in Scandinavia comes in 0.6 litre glasses - strange measurement for metric lands and too close to the English pint to be a coincidence) Tonight was a boat trip to the world's most violent maelstrom - its sunk a few large trawlers - on motorised dinghies, followed by a fish barbecue and the obligatory schnapps and lager festival. I have done my share of drinking, and i have no desire to get back on a boat that isnt at least 40 feet wide. I havent eaten fish for over 20 years, so seemed like on to sit out. So that is what i am doing here, curious how the guys are getting on. Scandinavian Aviation is fuelled literally by diesel - they put it in the aircraft, and any left over gets drunk...
So, Bodo (pronounced Boo-dah like the little fat God) - is it as dull as i painted it? Well, yes it is, but, and this is a huge but... its a cute little place and we all really like it. The hotel is about as ordinary as you can get, but the bed is comfortable, breakfast is ok, wireless is free... so nothing there to complain about. The town is quaint and workmanlike - the harbour is full of fishing boats, sails taken down and metal banging into metal in the wind. The sun is up most of the day, and in 3 months it will disappear for a whole fortnight. The locals are friendly and all speak better English than any Scot, and overall it really is a lovely little place. It is stuck out on the coast a bit like one of Norway's several coastal cities. The main road runs up parallel to the coast, but about 25 miles inland, and there are a few little fingers to the larger fishing ports which act as the outside world to the hundreds of villages dotted around. The spine of mountains runs the other side of the road, and on the other side of that sunlight disappears for months, temperatures plummet, and skiers abound. The airline we are working with, Widerhoe, get subsidies from the government to fly to dozens of these little villages. When someone there makes a hospital appointment they throw in a plane ticket!
Catch up - skip this if you have been listening...
It has been a year of change, of that there can be no doubt.
A year ago i was living in a mouldy bedsit overlooking the roof of a Sainsbury's that had been built in the middle of the A23. I was in a job where i was about to go to Florida for a business meeting that would lead to me falling out of love with the company - although it was many more months until i would recognise that. The cat hated the lodger, the estate agent was showing round 3 people a day, every day of the week, and i was hoping he wouldnt flush the toilet and flood the lounge...
And then in November i moved out, and moved in with my gorgeous girlfriend into Great Betley, one of England's finest examples of early 16th / late 19th Century farmhouses. Acres of grass and hedge rows surrounded us, the driveway is a mile long, the neighbours have to drive to get to us, and the pond under the willow on a cold bright spring evening is possibly the most beautiful place i have ever stood by. And the changes came in bundles then - living in a building site for 6 months was always interesting - especially when the builder decides he wants to start every day just after 6. Cheers, George!
So i was living with someone again, for the xth time having sworn blind it would never happen to me again... I will rave about the wonderful Kitty another night, in another blog...But for the first time i became some kind of Dad. Two teenage boys were forced to share their space with me, which can not have been easy for them. And i had to share theirs, which they sometimes made easy for me!
As January came around we got a dog who proceeded to tunnel to France while traumatising the cat so completely that she peed on the bed 19 straight days. The start of the year was given over almost entirely to planning the wedding, and on April 26th a very obviously mad woman was committed at a public hearing to spend her remaining days as my chattel.
By June it was obvious that there was no place for me at XL, and following Peter Owen's lead I made for the dog. My exit was a bit more controlled, and after considering various offers and ideas Sabre seemed like the best place to be. A financially secure company (first i think i have ever worked at) with the opportunity to travel, teach and actually make some changes that would help people do their work better. So here i sit in Bodo above the Arctic Circle feeling rather happy with things, and feeling a lot more confident about the future.
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