Ramblings as I travelled from Halifax to Manchester and then on to Dubai via Heathrow

Getting to Manchester Airport

 

Getting to Manchester Airport from Halifax is a breeze. Just get yourself onto the M62 and then follow the signs. Finding the car park wasn't that difficult but I did have to ask once for directions. Much easier than getting to Heathrow from Abingdon and the parking costs a third of what it costs at Heathrow.

 

Louis Vuitton and Burberry … why?

 

I know I am not a dedicated follower of fashion and I can see that some designer clothes, handbags and shoes are treasured and are to be admired but Louis Vuitton bags and anything with that dull, dull, dull Burberry plaid? I look at those LV bags and think, there must be something fantastic inside them that I am not privy to? I should look inside one some time and see what I'm missing. Burberry really is just fit for Chavs in my opinion.

 

British Airways Check in

 

For a reason that wasn't given I couldn't check in for my Dubai flight on line so I went to the BA check in desks at Manchester and asked if they could do it there for me. Fascinating psychology ensued! At first I was subjected to a barking check in clerk, the sort who thinks that they are doing me a favour by being there. I didn't react and answered all questions and handed over all information when asked. Then, a transformation: she didn't know how to do what I needed to do and had to keep asking her colleague for help. That made her humble and by the time I left, I was checked in and she had even booked me a vegetarian meal within the 24 hour embargo period. Her tone was much more acceptable by the time I left and she apologised for not knowing what to do as she'd never done it before. There, a bit of humility now and again isn't a bad thing is it?

 

I flew from Manchester to Heathrow with BMI and these thoughts careened through my head:

 

The plane was late arriving but we weren't given any information as to why and yet the departure gate was manned constantly from my arrival there, an hour and a half before scheduled take off … couldn't use a microphone and PA system to tell us what was happening? I had my connecting flight to catch and I get really nervous when things don't come together and I don't know why.

 

No one told me that airside at Terminal 3 at Manchester there are either no shops and cafes or if there are, they are nowhere near where I was (the airport leaflet suggests they are there but where?) I had left my sister's house after a cake fest of a buttered Chorley cake and a piece of deliciously moist carrot and walnut cake each. So by 5:30 – 6 pm I needed some sustenance as I knew I wouldn't be eating on the Dubai flight until around midnight. In the end I had to be satisfied with a Snickers bar and a coffee from a vending machine. Better than nothing but where are the communication channels at these airports?

 

The flight to London is a 40 minute flight and I couldn't believe it when people bought sandwiches and drinks.

 

I bought the cheapest possible ticket for the flight to London but for a further £2 each way, I could have chosen my seat. Why would I want to do that? Even though I'm desperate for an aisle seat on longer haul flights, I really don't see the need to worry about seating arrangements on a 40 minute flight. Save your two quid!

 

Similarly, they offer business class on that flight and if you'd bought a business class ticket you would have paid at least £100 more than me per flight. The seats were the same size in business as where I was and apart from using the lounge the only other benefit I saw was that the drink and sandwich was free, on that 40 minute flight. If I were in charge of travelling expenses at the companies that have paid for these business class tickets, I would review such a policy.

 

Trains Between Terminals

 

Why have they built the platform for the trains between Terminals 1 and 4 so far from the Terminals themselves? Terminal 4 is a particular challenge as it's at least a quarter of a mile walk at a guess. For me, that's fine as I love the cut and thrust of running through airports but what if you're old and doddery and in a hurry and you've no chance of getting anywhere on time if you're running late?

 

Language 

• On the BMI flight, they didn't ask if we wanted to buy a drink or a sandwich, they asked if we wanted to purchase them.
• On a notice just as I was about to get on the Dubai flight I saw that they were commencing to install a new fire alarm system at Terminal 4: if it were me I would have started installing it!
• It is odiously common now for cabin crew to say that, for example, we are about to land into an airport. Makes me cringe, that!

 

 

DW

Are they warped?

I thought you'd like to know that I am getting all sorts of requests to exchange links with various web sites as these people are trying to boost their google etc ratings.

 

I am getting around 2 - 3 requests a week now and recently have had requests for links from companies selling or dealing in the following products and services

 

Rubber products

Financial services

Commercial capital equipment

 

I am nowhere near being linkable to any of these things. Do they think I'm mad or desperate?

 

Am in Dubai again and have some observations to make, a little bit later. Worth waiting for!

 

DW

Moving house

Wish me bona fortuna today as I move house: leaving Abingdon and wife behind and moving to Halifax.

 

I think everyone should at least go through the motions of moving house: ours is a three bedroom semi and yet it contains a vast amount of detritus. We are throwing away a lot of rubbish. Things that have seen better days and things that I’m sure we never really needed. I spent all day yesterday cleaning and moving things around but by the end of the day I couldn’t see any progress except that the kitchen is now spotless.

 

I recommend a minimalist life style if you can’t go through the virtual house move that I recommend. Don’t buy anything using a credit card, use cash only and if you don’t have the cash for something, then it may well be something you don’t need. By using this technique you will be forcing yourself to think about your actions. Credit and debit card decisions are instantly gratified: of course, your local favourite charity shop will benefit in a year or two but that’s not the point!

 

When we moved into this house in Abingdon, we had some good furniture to get rid of and contacted a few second hand furniture dealers and was met with the same response from each of them: sharp intake of breath through clenched teeth, ‘I’d be robbing myself if I paid you more than £tiny … there’s no demand for this sort of stuff at the moment. Come to my lock up and you’ll see it stacked high with stuff like this.’ So, I got £tiny for some good stuff.

 

I tried the same this time with some things that are not needed but that are good: single bed, large fridge/freezer and so on. This time I met with this, sharp intake of breath through clenched teeth, ‘There’s no demand for this sort of stuff at the moment. Come to my lock up and you’ll see it stacked high with stuff like this.’ Then EITHER, ‘It’ll cost you £80 for me to take this away for you’ or ‘I can take it off your hands for you for nothing.’ So, desperate as I was because TESCO took my card advertising these things a couple of weeks ago and when I went to check the ad because I’d had NO calls I found they hadn’t put it on their board as they had promised they would. Another reason NOT TO USE TESCO. I got nothing for some good stuff.

 

DW

 

 

Plea to Microsoft

I have been engaged in a conversation with a Microsoft Word discussion list and we have been talking about bullets and numbered lists. Several people have been solving some fundamental and very difficult problems. At the end I sent in the following mini rant ... thought I'd share it with you.

 

>>Thanks a lot Suzy, Christine and Robert and I will work through everything you say carefully.

 

However, in the faint and remote hope that someone from somewhere in Microsoft will feel just the slightest twinge of guilt over this and then do something about it ...

 

I have bought MS products for decades now and what I want to do is to switch on Word, start typing, copying, pasting, saving, formatting, bulleting, listing ... WITHOUT the need for any of these conversations we keep having here. Why can't I rely on my bullet etc settings. Why can't my default or chosen settings be allowed to be the over riding setting that cannot be over ridden without my permission? Like that odious English UK v ANY OTHER LANGUAGE problem. I say as sternly as possible I WANT ENGLISH UK as my default DO NOT CHANGE. The second that I copy and paste anything that is not English UK I encounter a problem where Word can tell me like a gadfly that I've made a spelling mistake even when I haven't.

 

As a matter of interest has anyone corrected a word or phrase in PowerPoint (not sure about Word) to be told that even though it's correct in both UK and US English it's wrong? look closely and you might find that a word is part UK English and part US English. Took me a LONG time to realise that one!

 

Did I read somewhere that MS has spent $8 billion on its 2007 and Vista development? A lot of that has been wasted by the look of it and Gates himself was interviewed by the BBC recently when he said that his passion (eugh!) is software. Looks like it!

 

Duncan

In London with Dima yesterday shipping his goods and chattels around and we called in on Chinatown for a bite to eat. Had a good feed at an all you can eat buffet place which was not the spookily named Tai Ka Look restaurant. Read that more crefully ... is it a real Chinese name? Yes, they had translated the name into Chinese characters which I cannot reproduce here. Don't you think it really reads Take a look? I got a parking ticket as we loaded Dima's gear too. £120. I have appealed on two grounds:

• There really was no warning sign where I parked although there were signs elsewhere
• The attendant should have left me a leaflet saying that if Dima really is a resident (he is) then the fine will be reduced ... I found this out on the Islington web site
• There is a fair deal charter on that web site too in which they promise not to be unreasonable ... loads of spaces yesterday so I caused no harm to anyone and if I had I would have moved

DW

More rotten language

Mrs Brown, the film, is on in the background and I have just heard the following purported representations of language from Britain of the 19th century.

 

The Prince of Wales said that he wanted to speak WITH his mother, the Queen. As if he would have said any such thing.

 

John Brown himself said that he was looking OUT for the Queen when he would have said that he was looking after her.

 

DW