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Post by whatagain on Jun 4, 2024 14:51:16 GMT
Well I killed my tyre by puching curbs. Took out some of the rubber on the flank. Not punctured but unsafe. Grrr.
The driver looked at me bizarrely. maybe I was too polite ? ‘Hello sir and a good day to you. Would you be so kind as to drive me Terminal 3 please ?’
You tell me …
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 4, 2024 21:02:59 GMT
What a fascinating conversation.
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Post by patricklondon on Jun 5, 2024 11:07:50 GMT
Last week my brother-in-law and his wife who live in Ireland came to visit. As they got into their car to leave, my first thought was, "Why is he getting into the passenger seat?" The first time I went to America (at the FBI's expense, but that's another story), I was so discombobulated on arrival that I alarmed the taxi driver by getting into his seat!
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Post by whatagain on Jun 5, 2024 11:31:00 GMT
Discombowhat???
Gotta look that one up.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 5, 2024 11:34:07 GMT
Well, Joe Biden has arrived safely in Paris and did not fall down the steps of his plane in Orly. That makes me wonder why dignatories absolutely everywhere always have to come down mobile steps attached to their plane. Is there something wrong with using jetways? I do understand that for those who do not stumble (or even if they do), a limousine is waiting for them immediately without having to walk through an airport. That would be so undignified and make them seem so much less special than the rest of us.
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Post by whatagain on Jun 5, 2024 12:31:27 GMT
Discombowhat???
Gotta look that one up.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 5, 2024 16:13:16 GMT
why dignatories absolutely everywhere always have to come down mobile steps attached to their plane. Is there something wrong with using jetways? Is it because their planes are not regularly scheduled commercial flights? Surely a dignitary's plane has fewer passengers -- none of that riff-raff in steerage whose numbers would justify the use of a jetway. There is the matter of photo ops. You wouldn't want your favorite dignitary snapped in the poorly lit jet bridge with a poorly dressed fellow passenger jostling him from behind. It could also be a matter of security. Probably the airport wants to make sure the public can't mob the dignitary, nor could a potshot easily be taken. And of course the limousine needs a nice place to park.
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Post by mich64 on Jun 6, 2024 15:53:33 GMT
The first time I went to America (at the FBI's expense, but that's another story), I was so discombobulated on arrival that I alarmed the taxi driver by getting into his seat! Intrigued! Will wait for that story.
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Post by patricklondon on Jun 6, 2024 17:01:25 GMT
Not actually that exciting. I was working in university admin, and the FBI wanted someone to go over at short notice to confirm that someone they were prosecuting wasn't one of our students. So I got to go to Orlando for a couple of nights in a Howard Johnson's, to spend 20 minutes in a witness box. And to eat a burger in the US Embassy here while they rushed through putting a visa in my passport. My blog | My photos | My video clips | My Librivox recordings"too literate to be spam"
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Post by onlyMark on Jun 6, 2024 20:32:32 GMT
I'm not quite sure how I should react apart from shaking my head at the absurdity of 250(?) British paratroopers commemorating the D Day landings and allied paratroopers being dropped behind the lines, by parachuting into France, landing in the same fields as before - and then having to queue up to show their passports to the French border officials who had set up trestle tables, in the field, to process them.
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Post by bjd on Jun 7, 2024 4:51:42 GMT
Well, the US paratroopers had already gone through border entry in France since they left from France and the Belgians didn't need paperwork as EU citizens. I agree it looks silly and petty on the part of the French, but it wouldn't have happened without Brexit.
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Post by onlyMark on Jun 7, 2024 5:58:29 GMT
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Post by patricklondon on Jun 7, 2024 7:26:00 GMT
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Post by whatagain on Jun 7, 2024 16:54:04 GMT
L’Anglois est fourbe. French proverb.
He can’t be trusted.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 7, 2024 17:49:20 GMT
Rishi probably could have found a solution but he was too busy rushing back to England for the ITV electoral interview that won't even be broadcast until next week. We all have our priorities.
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Post by whatagain on Jun 8, 2024 9:40:39 GMT
Japan rate birth has fallen to 1.2 - representing the number of children a Japanese woman has in her life. A country needs a rate of 2.1 to have its population remain stable. Last year death were twice as much as births (1.5 moi vs 0.75) resulting in a shrinking of the population. In a lot of countries immigration fills the gap but I am not sure Japan qualifies as a haven for immigrants. Would be interesting to dig into this though.
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Post by whatagain on Jun 8, 2024 9:48:43 GMT
I found on internet that in 2020 67 000 migrants entered Japan whilst 19 000 Japanese left the country. That makes a net figure at 50 000. They need to attract another 700 000 people
They are currently 125 millions. So in 10 years they would be 118 millions and aging. Good luck for their retirement and health spendings.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 8, 2024 11:45:36 GMT
South Korea is even worse off these days. The birth rate there is down to 0.81.
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Post by mickthecactus on Jun 8, 2024 12:00:08 GMT
I don’t think Italy is much better
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Post by questaredux on Jun 9, 2024 0:45:31 GMT
Italy got badly slugged by the pandemic which wiped out complete villages of ageing citizens. Those who could moved to better housing and facilities in the now empty towns. Many moved to live with relatives in the cities which will have a new set of social problems. I can imagine pressure being put on the women to have more babies then they had planned.
Perhaps the same pressure will also be used on the women of Japan and S Korea...after all, they have shown to be excellent business entrepreneurs...maybe bigger families can be made fashionable again
As for China! The "one child" policy backfired, decent housing won.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 9, 2024 1:55:14 GMT
Bringing up what happened in Italy during covid kind of shocked me, Questa. I realized that, along with many other people, I'm just skipping along as though all is well. How quickly we forget -- or choose not to remember -- those stark images of towns unable to obtain enough coffins or even to bury the dead quickly enough. Those of us over 65 seemed under a death sentence, according to some of the media in the early, hysterical stages. Well, we either didn't die or we got covid and survived. I feel that it can make us too complacent. To be honest, I feel I am.
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Post by mich64 on Jun 11, 2024 2:52:28 GMT
Not actually that exciting. I was working in university admin, and the FBI wanted someone to go over at short notice to confirm that someone they were prosecuting wasn't one of our students. So I got to go to Orlando for a couple of nights in a Howard Johnson's, to spend 20 minutes in a witness box. And to eat a burger in the US Embassy here while they rushed through putting a visa in my passport. My blog | My photos | My video clips | My Librivox recordings"too literate to be spam" [/quote Thank you for the follow up! I found it interesting.
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Post by htmb on Jun 14, 2024 16:00:43 GMT
The State of Florida continues to sink deeper into the depths of hell. An unnamed storm dumped so much rain on the southern part of the state that roads have been underwater and the entire Miami area has been gridlocked for at least a couple of days, by my guess. My son was listening to a Miami-based sports show yesterday and all the commentators could talk about was how flooded the city was and how most of their staff members were unable to get into work. They spent most of the two-hour broadcast discussing climate change and how our politicians had failed to address the problem.
Here in the north we have been overly dry. Vegetation was looking pretty sad until a little rain from the storm briefly reached our area. However, the water table dropped so much last week that a lot of the water on Paynes Prairie suddenly disappeared into the aquifer, causing a massive fish kill due to the decrease in water. The only positive was the easy food source for the hundreds of alligators living in the prairie swamps.
Now, in the middle of my medium-sized city, we must also be on the lookout for large black bears. One was located in a tree on the university campus yesterday. Police and wildlife officers watched it all day and set out a huge (humane) trap, loaded with cake, in the hopes the bear would eventually be lured out of the tree. However, last night the bear climbed down the tree, ignored the cake and disappeared. The bear had first been spotted about a mile from my home, though the tree incident was another mile in the opposite direction.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 15, 2024 4:00:46 GMT
Good grief! I knew that the very southern part of Florida was being hammered with rain and high water, but thought everything was okay up where you are. Good for the sports announcers and their talking about climate change & how the people have been underserved by their elected representatives. Of course, the conversation about Florida, its ever-increasing population, and the water has been going on for decades. Sinkholes, anyone? But this, this is terrifying and tragic: the water table dropped so much last week that a lot of the water on Paynes Prairie suddenly disappeared into the aquifer, causing a massive fish kill due to the decrease in water. The only positive was the easy food source for the hundreds of alligators living in the prairie swamps. And this is like a Gary Larson cartoon where everything awful that can happen, happens: we must also be on the lookout for large black bears.
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Post by htmb on Jun 15, 2024 4:21:15 GMT
Plenty more material here for more Carl Hiaasen novels.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 15, 2024 4:42:54 GMT
*laughs ruefully*
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Post by lugg on Jun 21, 2024 19:42:07 GMT
I had no idea as it has not been mentioned in UK news as far as I am aware.
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Post by whatagain on Jun 22, 2024 8:28:31 GMT
I miss being in Paris. So I go in 2 weeks with daughter and am fully booked ! Seeing old friends then old colleagues and another good friend for lunch. Loving looking forward to it.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Jun 22, 2024 9:14:13 GMT
Have a wonderful time Whatagain. It's lovely catching up with friends and colleagues, these days we all move about so much that we end up losing touch with our old pals. Not that we move about much we have been in this house since 1984 ! 40 years this month actually!
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Post by lugg on Jun 22, 2024 18:37:39 GMT
Echoing what Cheery said have a lovely time Whatagain Ive just spent a few days with some of my oldest friends in Anglesey - we dont catch up as a group so often now but we have a shared history ; we all met when we were 18 just starting out on our nursing careers . here is us .. 45 years plus later - all now 64 years old. Not sure if we are any wiser ! But we still all love a cocktail !! live.staticflickr.com/65535/53797068767_c7ab19c266_c.jpg
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