The answer's 23

I was asked today to list the countries I have worked in over the last ten years ... here it is:

Bosnia and Herzegovina
Kyrgyzstan
Kazakhstan
Uzbekistan
Romania
United Kingdom
Afghanistan
Dubai
Abu Dhabi
Kuwait
Oman
Saudi Arabia
Switzerland
Hungary
Thailand
Singapore
Vietnam
Malaysia
Pakistan
Holland
Sudan
Albania
Qatar


Thought you'd like to know!


DW

It Couldn't have Happened to a Nicer Club!

The world knows now that Blackburn Rovers FC has been relegated from the Premier League.

Sorry for that ... not!

DW

Dubai Mall and Rather a Large Moon!

I managed to finish my work reasonably early this evening so decided to go for a walk to the Dubai Mall: just 15 minutes or so up Financial Centre Road from my hotel. The weather was not too hot and therefore I had a comfortable walk. I peregrinated for about three hours altogether, with a stop for dinner of about half an hour in the middle. I bought some of my favourite Molton Brown soap while I was there so t' job's a good 'un.

On the way back down Financial Centre Road I saw rather a large moon in he sky. Of course, my big moon snapping camera and lens are in the UK. The reason the moon looks so big is that it has just been at its perigee so is about as near to Earth as it gets ... so it looks bigger at the moment. It looks a LOT bigger. It would have made a nice series of photos too. Grr!

DW

This is good fun!

I found this accidentally last night but really enjoyed it. Of course, you will find that some of the people who left comments on that page are warped!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCFCeJTEzNU&feature=youtube_gdata_player

DW

On the Sun Terrace

Well, it could be worse! I am sitting on the sun terrace of the hotel looking at at the Burj Khalifa which is about 300 - 400 metres away. About to eat for the first time in about 12 hours.

I know where I'm going ... !!

I arrived at Abu Dhabi airport early this morning so had to hang around for a while as my meeting wasn't scheduled until 11 am: I made a call and had the meeting brought forward though so that was good!

Then I got into the taxi:

Me: Al Salam Street, please
Taxi Driver: in Abu Dhabi?
Me: (inwardly) Oh! No! Here we go again, shades of Qatar!

We drove in the general direction of the city and I made 6 ... 7 ... 8 phone calls, handing my phone over to the driver. Of course, he KNEW the AREA but not the exact street ... Pfffft! We stopped at the building he believed to be the right one: labelled TAQA when it should have been labelled TRA. I went along with it and he carried my bags. Well, we had not arrived at my destination but we were within a block of it so that was alright then!

After that, with just two hours' sleep on the plane I had a 3.5 hour meeting and then had to wait for an hour and a half for a car to get me to my hotel. Let me be perfectly honest and admit that I was taken to the wrong hotel because of my own ineptitude but that was resolved fairly quickly!

It's just after 5 pm now and I had intended to have a nap and then ruminate on the output from today's meeting but will eat, then work, then sleep early.

Early start tomorrow.

Chin chin!

DW

Serious Gardening

After almost two years I have finally started to get to grips with the garden. Lawn mowed ... but it's had a bad winter; THREE new fruit trees ... Cherry, raspberry, blackberry; and herbs and flowers.

Take a look:

See your OWN Doctor Mister!

It is my deeply held view that any head of State must be able to be treated by the medical profession within his or her own country to retain any credibility at all. Alternatively, make it possible for all of their fellow countrymen to go abroad for medical treatment.

Banda in Malawi was treated in the UK and South Africa
Mugabe treated in Singapore at the moment
Chavez in Cuba now

I could do some research and find hundreds more no doubt. I don't care about their fine words and well intended policies, if they don't make health for their country a priority then they deserve the same treatment as everyone else.

Duncan

Sell by Date

I just read a story in which a woman had been found dead in a chair in her house eighteen months after she is thought to have died. They said they estimated the date of the woman's death by using the sell by dates on food in her fridge.

In that case, if that were to happen to me they could estimate that I had died as long ago as 2009! There are foodstuffs in my cupboards that go back that far. If son Andrew hadn't cleaned out my cupboards a couple of years ago there would be things still there from 2005!

DW

That woman and the Euro 2012 Football Championship

She's at it again: a very famous woman from across the pond. There's a Chinese dissident who is now probably under greater threat than ever before and the former Prime Minister of the Ukraine is seeking to benefit from this woman's attention. Disgraceful! None of her business.

More than that I see these wretched politicians are now lining up against the Euro 2012 Football Championships. Politicians here not going, politicians there not going ... GOOD! You would only be sitting in a seat you didn't pay for, staying in an hotel you didn't pay for, eating high quality food you wouldn't have paid for. Clear off! Let a proper football supporter have your seats.

DW

Broadband my 'arris!

All I wanted to do was to watch and listen to a short video on YouTube. Less than five minutes in duration but I didn't get to the end of it.

Stop start, stop start.

Will any broadband provider accept the challenge of giving me FULL access to their services without lying to me and give me £1,000 if they fail? Then I can watch this video in peace.

DW

Another airline tax? Get lost!

This is a simulcast with duncan's diacritical discussion Read this article and then my comments below http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8d2ca858-92f2-11e1-b6e2-00144feab49a.html#axzz1tFw6P9cn --oo0oo-- This is a joke, yes? Cameron agrees so that's it? The reality is that politicians these days are so undereducated in the ways of the practicalities of running a country that all they can think about is to increase taxes and hope that a problem will then be solved. The reality is that this is a matter of planning, forecasting and management. Is it a surprise, for example, that today, an Emirates A380 will arrive from Dubai at Heathrow (and Manchester for that matter) and another one will arrive from Singapore? Is it also a surprise that there may be more than 500 people on each plane? Is it also a surprise that this happens every day of the year? The point is quite clear, airlines have their timetables and their slots at our airports. We all know all of this. Now, just take another step or two from here: on average, how many Brits are on these planes?; how many are from the EU and so on?; how many are from the rest of the world ... la la la. Passenger arrival statistics are a matter of fact and have almost certainly been analysed ... haven't they? Finally, we get the the nub of the matter: the Border Agency knows all of the above much better than I do but in the end it's a matter of staffing and management since the plans and forecasts have largely been taken care of. Like other people on this thread, I travel a lot and would resent most strongly if ever more taxes were loaded onto passengers. For example, a recent flight: cost of ticket £42, cost of taxes and other charges on that ticket £121. Easy target or what? Duncan

New HR book from Tony Miller

There are at least two reasons for buying this newly published book: firstly, it's very practical and it's been written by a true master of his craft, DrTony Miller.

The second reason to buy is that the tables, charts and numerical analysis were driven by yours truly via Microsoft Excel.

Here's the link to Tony's site where you can buy the book.
http://www.tony-miller.com/the-new-hr.php

DW

Trapped ... Trapped!

Just take a look at the local weather forecast for the next few days ...

DW

Happy Birthday Dad!

Had he lived, my dad would have been one hundred years old today. He died just three weeks short of his sixtieth birthday.

I was only 19 when he died so I never got to know him as a man. As is often the case, all that is left of him are a few photographs and memories.

A quiet man with very little formal education, he was a partner in the family business. He finished his career as the owner of a pet foods shop on Halifax Road in Todmorden, West Yorkshire.

It always seemed to us that he knew how to drive to anywhere without consulting any maps and wherever we went he always met someone he knew!

He never went abroad so he never had a passport. He never flew in a plane. He never read a book that I am aware of.

My parents were never demonstrative people and I only ever saw them kiss once: a peck on the cheek one Christmas following the exchange of gifts.

Were my parents in love? I didn't know the answer to that question until my dad died. My mother was devastated and it was something she never recovered from and in my opinion she died of a broken heart.

Birthday wishes dad!

DW

Very Good Soup

In these desperate times, cook some soup. Today I cooked broccoli soup and it has cost me one Pound for at least four servings: in summer that would probably be six servings. One medium sized onion, halved and sliced Two heads of broccoli One cup of cooked long grain rice One stock cube Water Two cloves of garlic, finely chopped One tablespoon of oil to sweat off the onions --oo0oo-- Sweat off the onions Add garlic and broccoli, cook two minutes Add stock cube and water Cook until broccoli is cooked Add the cooked rice Add salt and pepper Marmalise the soup QED DW

Happy St George's Day

It's 23rd April and today is St George's day. St George is the patron saint of England, among other countries. So, cry God for Harry, England and St George and celebrate the day. Today is also Shakespeare's birthday! DW

Back Home, Back in Control of my Diet

I am not a vegan but I eat many vegan meals and here is one of them.

Baked potato with a kidney bean and celery stew.

Excellent!

Praise the Scandinavians and the Dutch

When I worked with a Danish company I was introduced to their fabulous liquorice sweets ...sweet and salty versions. I have forgotten the brand name but yesterday, at Schipol Airport I came across something similar and here is a photo of what I bought ... weeks and weeks' supply of these sweets! Lovely!

DW

BSOD

Ever seen a blue screen of death? That's a BSOD! In Windows Vista and Windows 8 there is no BSOD, it's been replaced by a BWOD ... blue wheel of death. My desktop runs on Windows XP which is, in my experience, the most stable Windows we have ever had. When I go away on a trip I tend to leave my desktop computer on ... whnever I come back there is ALWAYS a BSOD waiting for me ...here is the latest one!

DW