NOT OF THIS WORLD

I like this.  It's from the London City website Squaremile.com and amid the continuing tumult of the world money markets is very pertinent.

Einstein dies and goes to heaven ony to be informed that his room isn't ready.
 
St. Peter tells him "I hope you won't mind waiting in a dormitory, even though you'll have to share the room with others." 

Einstein assures him there's no problem and St. Peter leads him in, saying "Here is your first room-mate.  He has an IQ of 180" "That's wonderful" says Einstein "We can discuss particle physics."

St Peter then says: "And here's your second room-mate, his IQ is 150!" "Great," replies Einstein "We can talk about cosmology."

Just then another man reaches out to grab Einstein's hand and shakes it. "I'm your final room-mate," he explains, "and I'm sorry but my IQ is only 80." Einstein smiles back and replies: "So, where do you think the markets are headed?"

Back to more "worldly" things.  The "Idiot Abroad" programme on Sky1 at 9.00 pm this evening is about the Trans-Siberian Express.  I shall be watching with interest................ !! 

SOME OF MY FELLOW TRAVELLERS IN THE
"RESTAURANT CAR" ON THE TRANS-SIBERIAN EXPRESS

MY "ROOM MATES" IN THE TINY 4-BERTH CABIN
THAT WAS OUR HOME FOR 4 DAYS (& NIGHTS!!!)

WAITING TO BOARD



PRE-BOARDING EXCITEMENT!

And while on the subject of "my trip", this morning I had an email from a journalist who is interesting in writing an article about the journey. Watch this space.

WHERE DOES TIME GO?

As I said, where does time go?  My dear friend Sue moved to Spain with her beloved husband Paul 11 years ago, much about the same time that Davy and I bought our lovely Alpine retreat.  Consequently whenever Davy and I went away it was either to Switzerland or up to Scotland to see his family.  I always promised to visit Sue and Paul but shamefully never did. 

It was through Sue that I met Davy.  I like to tell folks that he lived with her, which is absolutely truebut I sometimes omit to add that in his days as a jobbing bricklayer he lodged with her for a while!   

However............this year I promised that I would go when the weather cooled down.  Believe it or not  they had temperatures peaking at 60C this summer.  Admittedly that was in direct sunlight but that's way, way too hot for me. When I tell friends this they look at me in disbelief.  Surely not.  But Sue & Paul showed me their digital thermometer display and lo and behold there it was, highest temperature 60C. 

So earlier this month I trotted off to see them, carefully avoiding easyJet!  

It's a pretty idyllic place in the mountains above the Costa Del Sol.  I had 6 days of perfect bliss with them, enjoying the scenery, solitude and freindship.  I loved it so much that I am thinking of buying a bolthole down by the beach for us all to escape to from time to time.   

SUE AND I ENJOYING OUR MORNING "EYE OPENER"

But that's for the future and I desperately try to live in the "now".  Not, I would add, always very successfully! The "now" plan is to look into the possibilty of building a house on my plot of land following the demolition of the "black bungalow".   I have planning permission to build a four bedroom house but I had been thinking of taking the easy route which is to sell the plot and let someone else build the house. 

But you know, sometimes I get a tad bored and it would seem that I like to live on the edge a little!  Davy was a builder and I'm hoping that I picked up the building trade by osmosise. I also have really good friends in the trade who are willing to "baby sit" me. I think it could be fun.  Am I deluded in thinking that I can manage a project like this?  I couldn't start on the project for a few months anyway so I have a little "thinking time" but hey, I should be able to eat this elephant a bit at a time!



My other big news is that my beloved grandson Vinnie has now moved to Sydney with his fabulous girlfriend Hilary.  He is working as a chef in a swanky restaurant on Balmoral Beach called The Public Dining Room.   And... I hope to visit him in February together with my grandaughter Georgina and two of my Great Grandchildren, Elise and Orianne. 

I also hope to be able to pay a visit to my good friends Jack and Betsy in Desert Hot Springs this winter too, so it's all happening here.

THE POOL THAT PAUL BUILT



PAUL, FONDLY GAZING INTO MY EYES! NOT!!





AH! EASYJET AGAIN

Here is my latest correspondence to Carolyn McCall, easyJet's CEO. 

Re: EasyJet Query [Incident: 110726-001018] – Booking Reference EHPNQXZ

On 13th August I wrote regarding the above incident and you referred my correspondence on to Graeme MacLeod your Head of Customer Operations. I would imagine that he subsequently reported back to you that the incident was now closed to his satisfaction. Unfortunately, it was not closed to my satisfaction.

My blog had 2386 page views last month, 52 people work in my office, I have a large extended family and many friends all of whom are astounded at the lack of understand that easyJet has exhibited.

I simply wrote to alert you of problems and was advised to refer my “complaint” to Luton Airport when in fact you should have thanked me for pointing out that your fare paying passengers cannot physically clear security and walk to the gate in the 10 minutes slot between check in and gate closures.

You should either raise the “complaint” with the airport yourself to ensure that this can be achieved or change your criteria. What you should NOT have done was deny boarding to 18 fare paying passengers plus 2 infants, blame them for being late (although I refute that we were late) and then treat them with cold, callous, contempt which is what Amanda Nunan did.

I am a serial traveler. Immediately prior to my visit to Switzerland (the subject of our correspondence) I had returned from a four month overland and sea trip around the world through Europe, Russia, Siberia, Mongolia, China, across the Pacific to Alaska, Canada, USA, finally returning to England across the Atlantic and never had a problem with service .

This week I am travelling from East Midlands to Malaga with bmibaby who, incidentally, ask passengers to be at the gate 30 minutes before departure and add that the gate closes 15 minutes before departure.

By the way, isn’t today the day that the Office of Fair Trading instructed you and other airlines to reduce your exorbitant credit and debit card charges? Are you going to do this? I suspect not. Bear in mind that feelings of invincibility have long been the enemy of many businesses that then go on to fail, News Corporation for example. Are you feeling invincible?

Regards, Ann Cordner