Should've given Suarez his oranges at halftime.
Still a better love story than Twilight
Either feast or famine at Liverpool
Roughly translates to - No Americans to cross here
Honesty is the best policy
Monday, April 22, 2013
Luis Suarez Memes and More
Should've given Suarez his oranges at halftime.
Still a better love story than Twilight
Either feast or famine at Liverpool
Roughly translates to - No Americans to cross here
Honesty is the best policy
Monday, April 08, 2013
Monday, April 01, 2013
Short European Trip - Thurs
On the flight from Singapore my travelling companions are a slightly older German couple from Göttingen, was it? Somewhere between Dresden and Halle an der Saale. They were returning from three weeks in New Zealand. I introduced myself in German, which broke the ice, but they wouldn't tell me their names. Difficult to make conversation with my very limited German but I tried. The lady spoke so quickly so it was a case of trying to get the gist of it.
No chicken left by the time supper was served so I had to have the braised pork which turned out to be fabulous. Mashed potato was inedible though.
By crikey the German girls seated behind me can yack and the one directly behind me kept bumping my seat. So close to me unleashing a bit of air rage.
Watched Lincoln which was great apart from the background aircraft noise which meant that it was very difficult to hear and detracted from the enjoyment greatly. Subtitles would have been handy.
Awake until about 2:30am back home (7:30pm Frankfurt time). Woke up about 1am destination time but listened to music on my mobile - glad I charged my mobile when using the laptop.
Landed about 5:20am and was able to find my way to Terminal 1 section A within an hour. Could've made the much earlier flight if I'd known how simple passport control and no luggage to collect was going to be. Funny thing at passport control - one guy was directing the human traffic flow for the foreigners and was getting a bit upset that people weren't lining up into two lines near the exit point. It wasn't marked, mind you. Then one foreigner behind me got angry with him for "treating people like cattle," and told him so. The guy called out to a passport controller. He started yelling at the protester, who spoke German well, and it was highly amusing to see them yell at each other. The protester suspected that he would be given quite a hard time afterwards but following some words with a security guy nothing more came of it.
Obtained my boarding pass, found my gate, and plugged in the laptop and mobile for a couple of hours of emails and charging. Internet charge was Euro 4.95/24 hours. Toilets were nothing special but some of the lounges were very comfortable. By boarding time for the flight to Vienna I had a headache. Not enough to drink on the plane, I guess. When I went to take my seat I noticed an older guy sitting in my window seat but thought not to argue and took the aisle seat. Later, another gentleman wanted a seat on the other side of the aisle which was taken by someone else who then wanted my seat and we found out that the first guy was in the wrong row! Couple of no-shows so a delay to remove their luggage was experienced.
Quite a few Asians working at the terminal - their German was fine. Don't see too many typical looking Germans doing the menial tasks at the airport. And Frankfurt Airport is enormous. It has a Camel Smoking Booth - but I didn't see any camels in there, only humans.
Nice view of the Alps en route to Vienna. At one point I was able to spot five planes heading in the other direction at the same time. Quite a busy route. Saw a falcon or hawk sitting on one of the runway signs at Vienna International Airport. Supposedly only 3°C in Vienna. Lots of snow surrounding the city. Couldn't see any animals outside on the farms as we approached the airport.
Free WLAN in Vienna! Exited the arrival area and found the ÖBB Intercitybus counter. Cash only so had to change some British pounds that I had left over from the last holiday. Bought my return ticket but was too late for the 11:30 bus. Bought some sandwiches, a bottle of water and a block of chocolate @ Spar Gourmet for less than six euros!
Bus ride took less than one hour - free wifi onboard. Even got to call my missus for free. You can see Bratislavsky Hrad (Bratislava Castle) from so far away. Only waited about 15 minutes for my friend, Michal, to arrive although the bus was a little early. He had a conference to attend so took my luggage and asked me to meet him at the Danube Hotel @ 4:30pm.
I headed off to Ondrezy Cintorin, a cemetery, and had a look around. Some famous people buried there, all of them dead. Then wandered around until I found Centrum - centre of town. Searched for the tourist info which had signs pointing to it but the building itself wasn't that obvious so I missed it the first time and did a lap of the city centre. Obtained a map and made my way to Michalska brana - St Michael's Gate, the only remaining city gate of four originally. It houses some very old weapons and war memorabilia, along with Slovak independence history, and there's a good view of the city from atop the tower. Had a bit of time left so walked up to the hrad. Good view of the city too. Didn't have time to check out the castle so walked around two of the walls and then went down. Passed the US embassy, which was a pedestrian-free zone, and saw the national theatre (divadlo) before making my way down to the Danube River. Visited the port to see if I could catch a sightseeing boat to Hrad Devin but they only operate from May. Discovered that there is free wifi in the city. Walked along the Danube until I reached the Park Inn Hotel Danube where Michal came to pick me up.
Picked up his son from school and then went to the Max Inn Hotel to meet his brother-in-law. I had fettuccine prawns and it was close to the spiciest meal I've ever eaten. Very nice though.
Back to Michal's house where I met his eldest son. We watched some golf, had pizza, helped his youngest boy with some English homework (reading) and saw the dog and cat.
No chicken left by the time supper was served so I had to have the braised pork which turned out to be fabulous. Mashed potato was inedible though.
By crikey the German girls seated behind me can yack and the one directly behind me kept bumping my seat. So close to me unleashing a bit of air rage.
Watched Lincoln which was great apart from the background aircraft noise which meant that it was very difficult to hear and detracted from the enjoyment greatly. Subtitles would have been handy.
Awake until about 2:30am back home (7:30pm Frankfurt time). Woke up about 1am destination time but listened to music on my mobile - glad I charged my mobile when using the laptop.
Landed about 5:20am and was able to find my way to Terminal 1 section A within an hour. Could've made the much earlier flight if I'd known how simple passport control and no luggage to collect was going to be. Funny thing at passport control - one guy was directing the human traffic flow for the foreigners and was getting a bit upset that people weren't lining up into two lines near the exit point. It wasn't marked, mind you. Then one foreigner behind me got angry with him for "treating people like cattle," and told him so. The guy called out to a passport controller. He started yelling at the protester, who spoke German well, and it was highly amusing to see them yell at each other. The protester suspected that he would be given quite a hard time afterwards but following some words with a security guy nothing more came of it.
Obtained my boarding pass, found my gate, and plugged in the laptop and mobile for a couple of hours of emails and charging. Internet charge was Euro 4.95/24 hours. Toilets were nothing special but some of the lounges were very comfortable. By boarding time for the flight to Vienna I had a headache. Not enough to drink on the plane, I guess. When I went to take my seat I noticed an older guy sitting in my window seat but thought not to argue and took the aisle seat. Later, another gentleman wanted a seat on the other side of the aisle which was taken by someone else who then wanted my seat and we found out that the first guy was in the wrong row! Couple of no-shows so a delay to remove their luggage was experienced.
Quite a few Asians working at the terminal - their German was fine. Don't see too many typical looking Germans doing the menial tasks at the airport. And Frankfurt Airport is enormous. It has a Camel Smoking Booth - but I didn't see any camels in there, only humans.
Nice view of the Alps en route to Vienna. At one point I was able to spot five planes heading in the other direction at the same time. Quite a busy route. Saw a falcon or hawk sitting on one of the runway signs at Vienna International Airport. Supposedly only 3°C in Vienna. Lots of snow surrounding the city. Couldn't see any animals outside on the farms as we approached the airport.
Free WLAN in Vienna! Exited the arrival area and found the ÖBB Intercitybus counter. Cash only so had to change some British pounds that I had left over from the last holiday. Bought my return ticket but was too late for the 11:30 bus. Bought some sandwiches, a bottle of water and a block of chocolate @ Spar Gourmet for less than six euros!
Bus ride took less than one hour - free wifi onboard. Even got to call my missus for free. You can see Bratislavsky Hrad (Bratislava Castle) from so far away. Only waited about 15 minutes for my friend, Michal, to arrive although the bus was a little early. He had a conference to attend so took my luggage and asked me to meet him at the Danube Hotel @ 4:30pm.
I headed off to Ondrezy Cintorin, a cemetery, and had a look around. Some famous people buried there, all of them dead. Then wandered around until I found Centrum - centre of town. Searched for the tourist info which had signs pointing to it but the building itself wasn't that obvious so I missed it the first time and did a lap of the city centre. Obtained a map and made my way to Michalska brana - St Michael's Gate, the only remaining city gate of four originally. It houses some very old weapons and war memorabilia, along with Slovak independence history, and there's a good view of the city from atop the tower. Had a bit of time left so walked up to the hrad. Good view of the city too. Didn't have time to check out the castle so walked around two of the walls and then went down. Passed the US embassy, which was a pedestrian-free zone, and saw the national theatre (divadlo) before making my way down to the Danube River. Visited the port to see if I could catch a sightseeing boat to Hrad Devin but they only operate from May. Discovered that there is free wifi in the city. Walked along the Danube until I reached the Park Inn Hotel Danube where Michal came to pick me up.
Picked up his son from school and then went to the Max Inn Hotel to meet his brother-in-law. I had fettuccine prawns and it was close to the spiciest meal I've ever eaten. Very nice though.
Back to Michal's house where I met his eldest son. We watched some golf, had pizza, helped his youngest boy with some English homework (reading) and saw the dog and cat.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Short European Trip - Weds
Recently had a short trip to Europe for training and tried to make the most of it.
Worked the Thursday morning before heading home for an afternoon flight. Taxi arrived right on time. Quite a bit of work going on at the airport with the expansion of the international terminal. Still lots of earthworks to be done and the cabbie told me that the airlines were moving in on Saturday!
Ate my lunch and then visited the polling station for the state election as I'll be out of the country on election day. No real privacy and my name was marked off electronically. Was searching for the ballot box when one of the staff showed me and mentioned, "I would have rugby tackled you." "Well," I replied, "I know taekwondo so that would have been interesting."
Don't forget to vote
Checked in at Qantas - great, my bags are going all the way through to Vienna. Three flights so we'll see. I'll freeze if they don't make it. Border Security posed no issue. Did see some woman using her mobile in that restricted area but nobody said anything to her. Had to do a full body scan and passed - no missing body parts which is an obvious relief. Then, the first bit of work to do - shopping for duty-free cosmetics for the wirfe. And she prepared a bit of a list too. Just glad I took a photo of the list as I left the actual list in my baggage. The shop downstairs only had 2/4 items so I had to go upstairs after taking a look at the public viewing deck. Not a lot of activity plane-wise. Found all the required items but three of them were really expensive.
Bit quiet at the airport
Ha - one Indonesian guy left his wallet at the security checkpoint and another guy left his iPad behind. I remember leaving my backpack at the x-ray check in Korea once and just rescued it before it was sent away for destruction.
One of my pet hates emerged at boarding - upon the call to board no attention was paid to the rows being called for. So many people boarded prior to being called which slows down the whole boarding process. Same everywhere you go. Sat next to a young lass, Victoria, from Bolton who'd been in Oz for four months for a working holiday. She's seen more of my country than I have. Interestingly, all four air stewards in our section of the plane are male. Not a female-dominated job anymore.
Surprise, surprise. The entertainment system wasn't working properly as the audio was all jumpy. Same with my travelling companion. Tried swapping headsets. No difference. One of the attendants rebooted the screens. Victoria shared some M&Ms. Yummo.
"This is the best bad idea we have sir. By far." - Argo. Thoroughly enjoyable movie. Glad I had the option of the subtitled version as the audio was stuffed once again for the last 20 mins or so. And you miss so much of the dialogue due to aircraft noise. Got nearly two hours of work done on the laptop - email feature works brilliantly. Some much needed work done. We made up lots of time due to a strong tailwind kicked up by the cyclone on the northeast coast. I was unable to obtain a righthand side window seat with a view of the cyclone when I checked in - dammit.
Couldn't get wifi access at Changi Airport on my mobile. Not sure what the problem was (I know now though). Maybe I had to login first and accept the terms of service as I did with my laptop. Few more emails answered. No mucking around or queue jumping in Singapore. People boarded by rows as they were called and boarding passes were checked before allowing them to pass - as it should be. Lots of Germans onboard. Hardly surprising as we are bound for Frankfurt. Just about the oldest bunch of flight attendants I've ever seen.
Plane for Frankfurt from Singapore
Worked the Thursday morning before heading home for an afternoon flight. Taxi arrived right on time. Quite a bit of work going on at the airport with the expansion of the international terminal. Still lots of earthworks to be done and the cabbie told me that the airlines were moving in on Saturday!
Ate my lunch and then visited the polling station for the state election as I'll be out of the country on election day. No real privacy and my name was marked off electronically. Was searching for the ballot box when one of the staff showed me and mentioned, "I would have rugby tackled you." "Well," I replied, "I know taekwondo so that would have been interesting."
Don't forget to vote
Checked in at Qantas - great, my bags are going all the way through to Vienna. Three flights so we'll see. I'll freeze if they don't make it. Border Security posed no issue. Did see some woman using her mobile in that restricted area but nobody said anything to her. Had to do a full body scan and passed - no missing body parts which is an obvious relief. Then, the first bit of work to do - shopping for duty-free cosmetics for the wirfe. And she prepared a bit of a list too. Just glad I took a photo of the list as I left the actual list in my baggage. The shop downstairs only had 2/4 items so I had to go upstairs after taking a look at the public viewing deck. Not a lot of activity plane-wise. Found all the required items but three of them were really expensive.
Bit quiet at the airport
Ha - one Indonesian guy left his wallet at the security checkpoint and another guy left his iPad behind. I remember leaving my backpack at the x-ray check in Korea once and just rescued it before it was sent away for destruction.
One of my pet hates emerged at boarding - upon the call to board no attention was paid to the rows being called for. So many people boarded prior to being called which slows down the whole boarding process. Same everywhere you go. Sat next to a young lass, Victoria, from Bolton who'd been in Oz for four months for a working holiday. She's seen more of my country than I have. Interestingly, all four air stewards in our section of the plane are male. Not a female-dominated job anymore.
Surprise, surprise. The entertainment system wasn't working properly as the audio was all jumpy. Same with my travelling companion. Tried swapping headsets. No difference. One of the attendants rebooted the screens. Victoria shared some M&Ms. Yummo.
"This is the best bad idea we have sir. By far." - Argo. Thoroughly enjoyable movie. Glad I had the option of the subtitled version as the audio was stuffed once again for the last 20 mins or so. And you miss so much of the dialogue due to aircraft noise. Got nearly two hours of work done on the laptop - email feature works brilliantly. Some much needed work done. We made up lots of time due to a strong tailwind kicked up by the cyclone on the northeast coast. I was unable to obtain a righthand side window seat with a view of the cyclone when I checked in - dammit.
Couldn't get wifi access at Changi Airport on my mobile. Not sure what the problem was (I know now though). Maybe I had to login first and accept the terms of service as I did with my laptop. Few more emails answered. No mucking around or queue jumping in Singapore. People boarded by rows as they were called and boarding passes were checked before allowing them to pass - as it should be. Lots of Germans onboard. Hardly surprising as we are bound for Frankfurt. Just about the oldest bunch of flight attendants I've ever seen.
Plane for Frankfurt from Singapore
Friday, March 15, 2013
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Few More Memes
I've made a few memes up in the last few days. The pope resigning has provided some inspiration.
I'm not good at faking hapiness nor masking contempt.
I hate it when I get chewing gum stuck in my hair.
A man who buys jewellery for his woman without her approval...
I quit - like Hell
If you're a borderline psycho...
Perhaps this is the real reason the pope resigned.
Or maybe this is why the pope resigned.
I'm not good at faking hapiness nor masking contempt.
I hate it when I get chewing gum stuck in my hair.
A man who buys jewellery for his woman without her approval...
I quit - like Hell
If you're a borderline psycho...
Perhaps this is the real reason the pope resigned.
Or maybe this is why the pope resigned.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
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