Lost in Translation

Not a food one this time, there seems to be some confusion in Poland between a staircase and a lift! “Schody” is Polish for a staircase so it’s not just a case of someone who did not understand English, it’s a case of someone who did not look where the arrow pointed.

The other half

Occasionally I get to work with an aircraft that is Just outstanding and this is one. The aircraft is an A319 (Easyjet operate them). It has a VIP interior including a bedroom and a bathroom with a shower. If you have to travel then this has to be the way to do it.

my piece of paradise

I travel all year, 79 flights between January and the end of July and this is a slack year. When it comes to holidays I don’t want to see an aircraft. Fortunately my in laws live in Scotland on the banks of a sea loch. Getting away from it with the family is just fantastic

A safe as houses bet with the children cost me £20 this year. After five years of only ever seeing Mackerel being caught I bet them £20 that they could not catch anything else. On the last cast of the holiday one of them landed a Pollock. On the positive note once it was gutted and baked with a small amount of butter it was very tasty!!!

The house is near HMNB Clyde, there is often something interesting going on I suppose I should be glad they only caught a Pollock.

A tale of two attractions

I use the word attraction with caution as in the first case it is clearly inappropriate. Whilst following the path of the wall I came across the Documentation centre. This building is located on the site of former Gestapo headquarters and documents the third Reich the building itself is of a stark design just like the subject it houses.

http://www.topographie.de/en/topography-of-terror/nc/1/


The second attraction is “Check point Charlie” its every bit as brash as the documentation centre is somber. all of this is is laid out on a public highway, it must be a nightmare to drive down the road, one moment of inattention and you have bagged a tourist that stepped out in front of you to get the "perfect" photograph

The Berlin Wall

Berlin is one of my favourite cities, there is a real sense of history about the place, recently they seem to be trying to preserve and recreate the cold war history. It seems that they are rebuilding significant parts of the wall. The photo below was my John Le Carre moment. I can’t imagine what it must have been like when the city was split. The meeting I had to attend was with a colleague from the Czech Republic and he recalls visiting East Berlin when he was a teenager and looking over the wall at the western tourists looking back

The plan it to mark the path of the wall through the city with a double reow of bricks