Last week I planted my very first tree.  Some people assume that we spend all our time at the Woodland Trust tree planting and walking around beautiful woodlands, but unluckily for the Campaigning team we don’t get out as often as some of our other Trust colleagues so it’s taken me until now to get a chance to get my spade out!

And as an experience, what a first it was for me!  Not only was I planting my first tree – such a moving experience and so easy to do – but I was doing it on behalf of a range of organisations concerned about airport expansion including RSPB, WWF and World Development Movement.  In partnership with Greenpeace, in front of national media. In the pouring rain. With Richard Briers, Alison Steadman, CarolAnn Duffy, plus politicians of every hue and a whole community in tow.  Definitely not my usual Friday!

I was at the Airplot - the strip of land right in the middle of Heathrow’s proposed third runway, which was bought last year by Greenpeace and is co-owned by over 60,000 other people around the world.  This entire area was once home to orchards and famed for the Cox Orange Pippin apple.  Today the ‘market garden’ for London is under tonnes of tarmac and concrete, the constant roar of aircraft in the air.

Why was the Trust there?  Our fight against Stansted is well-known and one of our highest profile cases of woods under threat, where 6 ancient woodlands are at risk of being lost forever from proposals for a new runway.  But when it comes to Heathrow, it is the very trees themselves which bring us to Sipson and the surrounding villages. You can read more about our concerns for the ancient and historically important trees that remain (for now) in the area.

The "magnificent" ancient Harlington Yew

The Woodland Trust joined Greenpeace as ‘the tree experts’ supporting their planting of a new orchard and providing a good mix of native hedging to encourage biodiversity and improve pollination.  On the day, 13 trees of various types of apple species were planted to complement the allotment established on the site earlier in the year. 

I spent an amazing day with Greenpeace at Airplot. There was a wonderful feeling of cameraderie throughout the whole event despite the weather.  As we all huddled together under a small marquee (did I mention the rain?) sipping hand-squeezed apple juice fresh from local apples, we listened to local historian Philip Sherwood tell stories about the area as it once was. Then we were treated to a reading by Alison Steadman of a new poem by the Poet Laureate, CarolAnn Duffy, before heading out into the mud with our spades.

I realised the full scope of Heathrow’s plans as I talked to some of the locals from Sipson, Harlington and Harmondsworth. Their hopes that the plans can be defeated are tangible. These villages will all be flattened by BAA’s expansion, and their residents fear for their homes and communities in an uncertain future. 

As for the trees that could be lost with them; who knows what secrets old masters like the great Sipson Oak hold?  History remembers them being planted, generations have watched them grow. Who can imagine the thousands of species of fungi, plants and wildlife these trees can be host to? 

The incredibly resilient Harlington Yew has stood firm for perhaps 1,000 years and continues to grow, even after being manipulated and clipped over the centuries; it was once damaged so badly by a gale that it was left as a stump only 12 feet high – yet as you can see in the photo above, it is still awe-inspiring today. The story of these villages can be epitomised by this beautiful old tree. They may be battered but their spirit will take much more to break.

Aviation is one of the world’s fastest growing source of greenhouse gases. Government and business plans for unremitting airport expansion threatens our natural world and increases the potential for long-term consequences of climate change.

We believe that trees and woods have a valuable role to play in addressing the issue of climate change, but only as part of the solution.  We are backing community action to plant a twin tree in solidarity like local Greenpeace groups have been doing all over the country. You can take action too, and there’s no need to stop at one tree! 

Together we can all make the UK – one of the least wooded countries in Europe – a place rich in native trees and woods, and show there are strong roots of resistance to the type of large-scale development the aviation industry has to offer.

Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt says he braved record-setting winds over England as he prepared to promote Southland’s potentially profitable pigs to European investers.

Our globe-trotting ambassador hinted at the drama in his Southland Times column on the weekend – but it’s taken an eagle-eyed and tenacious Southern Squall reader to get the full story.

We don’t usually do this – and our self-centred arrogance means we are entirely unlikely to do it again – but we’ve decided to print an only slightly abridged/messed-about-with-by-us version of the story our reader discovered.

Thanks, reader known only as “Ratepayer Concerned at Local Government Excesses, Including Dubious Trips to Norway”. You’ve just made Squall history (and our day with a minting wee yarn).

From our reader:

I have a possible story for your excellent blog site. It’s a followup to Mayor Tim’s Hotseat column in The Southland Times and a comment contained therein, viz:

“The first 45 hours of the journey were spent flying or trapped in airports because Heathrow was closed by a storm and 160-knot winds.”

Our reader went on to say he he is, when it comes to Timothy Richard Shadbolt, the eternal sceptic. 

He Googled Heathrow and associated sites but could find nothing to suggest or otherwise imply any weather-related closure of Britain’s most famous airport.

He happened upon the Met Office web site and fired off a query enquiries@metoffice.gov.uk and addressed it to “Dear Met Office Recipient Person,” who turned out to be weather desk advisor Dan Horseman.

Mr Horseman, in his book, instantly established himself as a top guy. He replied beautifully and thusly in an email on Nov 22:

“It has to be said that it’s a rather outlandish claim made by Mayor Timothy Richard!

“A gust of wind of 160 knots would have been a record for the British Isles, putting the current maximum of 123 knots to considerable shame.

“Indeed, England’s own (wind speed) record is a paltry 103 knots. As you’re no doubt aware, the weather is a perennially hot topic here and I would have thought that an incident such as this would have been mentioned to me at some point but, alas, I cannot recall hearing of it.

“Just in case I’ve been suffering from amnesia in the past fortnight or so I took the liberty of checking the METARs for Heathrow between the 10th and 15th November.

“For the uninitiated, a METAR is a report produced by airports every half an hour noting the current conditions, including the wind speed and direction. During this period the highest reported gust was 45 knots at 15:20 on the 14th; not insignificant by any means but falling rather short of the 160-knot mark.

“Out of curiosity and a desire to be thorough, I had a scout around online to see if I could find any references to Heathrow being closed recently; a newsworthy event when it does happen, naturally.

“The only mention I could find of this happening this year was in February due to almost four inches of snow.

“On the basis of this information, I think we can narrow it down to two possible conclusions:

1) Either (Mayor) Timothy is quite correct but, unfortunately, no-one else noticed the airport closure, the incredible wind or any of the damage that it would (have) inevitably caused;

2) or the story is a touch exaggerated.

I shall let you decide which seems (the) more likely. I hope this has been helpful. Kind regards, Dan.”

Our reader is in the midst of doing serious business with the whole ICC so he eschewed dispatching his findings to The Southland Times in a letter to the editor.

He did, however, tell several of his friends in what he calls the dissident community, which apparently has its own bush telegraph.

Later, he learned a reporter had been in touch with council finance man Dean Johnson who apparently said “the pilot” said Heathrow was closed and that Tim must have misheard – or misunderstood – the windspeed so, at that time, cited.

Goodness. The Squall team hope the work of our correspondent will serve as a warning to anyone else planning some in-print exaggeration: someone (someone much less lazy than the Squallers) is watching you.

Mayor Tim exaggerate? Who would’ve thought!

Today we’ve continued on our air travel theme – with yesterday’s Luton airport and aeroplane classroom stories leading the way – with a piece on CEM’s IP access equipment in use at Heathrow’s much-loved Terminal 5. Jet-setting!

We’ve also got an article on Mercury Security Management, a company gearing up for SIA-licensing in Northern Ireland by obtaining Approved Contractor Status. Keeping it regulated.

Apparently vehicle ID thefts are on the rise. Is someone impersonating your car? That sounds completely insane to me.

Also today, we’ve got a new Mirasys UK MD; some sporting access from Salto; and a new mid-priced anti-vandal dome from Samsung Techwin.

Well, that’s all absolutely splendid.

www.info4security.com, www.ifsec.co.uk

 

Gulf Air Airbus A330-243 A9C-KB (msn 281) (Grand Prix 2009) LHR, originally uploaded by Airliners Gallery.

Gulf Air (Bahrain) has decided to radically change its business plan. In the future it will focus on its short-haul markets. This will also radically affect what the airline has on order. The flag carrier has 20 Airbus A330-300s and 24 Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners on order. These orders are expected to be modified. In addition Gulf Air will sell five Airbus A340-300s.

News link:

www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idCAGEE5AM0XA20091123?rpc=44

Copyright Photo: Wingnut.

Please click on photo or link below for full view, information, prints for sale and other Gulf Air photos:

http://airlinersgallery.com/2/25c5082/#/gallery/gulf-air/gulf-air-a330-200-a9c-kb-08-grand-prix-2009-grd-lhr-d3-lr-903966/

On my flight from Cork to London (the first of 3 flights and the start of a 2 day journey to New Zealand!!) I got talking to the guy next to me on the plane about blogs. He told me how how he knows lots of people with excellent blogs and wondered did I have one.  Considering this is my first real blog post, I may have lied a little!!

Upon arrival in the nightmare that is heathrow airport he helped me find my way around and check in etc and continued to buy me a few beloved pints of bulmers (we did have 5 hours to kill!). He told me how he had failed his leaving certificate and never went to college yet has spent the past 14 years working in China for a company that makes accessories for i-phones and blackberries and other la dee daa smart phones and employs over 800 people worldwide.

 He used his own to find us an excellent restaurant with the help of an application called YELP which people can tell you shops, bars and restaurants in the vicinity with a click of a button and you can even read reviews. Technology continues to boggle my mind.

He carried on how he knows the guy who set up Facebook, the CEO of Blackberry and other high fliers. It wasn’t until we had talked for hours that I realised that he didn’t just work for this company…he owned it!! Just shows that formal education ain’t everything. It is moments or encounters like this that make travelling so awesome and REALLY opens up your eyes to the endless possibilties in life. Get out there and MAKE that dream come true, cause that’s what I plan on doing.

Next stop Singapore.

British Airways (London) may be forced to move its Concorde 102 G-BOAB (msn 208) away from London’s Heathrow Airport due to the lack of available space according to this article.

News link:

business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/transport/

article6926923.ece

Navigando per il web mi sono imbattuto in un video veramente interessante dove si mostra il sistema di gestione del bagaglio all’aeroporto di Londra Heathrow, più precisamente al Terminal 5, l’ultimo nato e dedicato alla compagnia British Airways.

Benchè nei primi giorni di operatività i disagi subiti dai passeggeri transitati al T5 siano stati enormi, con problemi contingenti e bagagli disguidati a raffica, la situazione è tornata alla normalità e da parecchi mesi lo standard qualitativo è assolutamente accettabile [per non dire superiore alla media]. In più di un’occasione FlyerZ blog ha verificato in prima persona come la riconsegna sia efficiente e rapida. Nonostante la pessima fama che circonda l’aeroporto londinese, oggi si può dire che si tratta di un pregiudizio.

E’ shockante rilevare come la tecnologia abbia saputo dare un contributo fondamentale ad un passaggio tradizionalmente critico nell’esperienza di viaggio dei passeggeri.

D’altro canto, è raccapricciante scoprire come negli aeroporti italiani (soprattutto Fiumicino e Malpensa) i bagagli vengano maltrattati, lasciati per terra in mezzo a un piazzale (FCO) o sotto le intemperie (MXP) e come tutte le operazioni di gestione del bagaglio vengano ancora principalmente svolte secondo un sistema meccanico manuale.

Le promesse dei gestori aeroportuali di rinnovare ed ammodernare i sistemi di gestione del bagaglio finora sono sempre finite in bagole: 50 minuti a Malpensa per un bagaglio (anche se ultimamente la situazione è migliorata – e ti credo: con solo una manciata di volo, ci manca pure che non riescano a fare in fretta!) e 1 ora e 20 a Fiumicino sono decisamente un’eternità, come se il bagaglio provenisse direttamente dal periodo giurassico.

E se l’ENAC non è fisicamente responsabile dei disagi, non può chiamarsi fuori perchè – da che mondo è mondo – l’ente controllore dovrebbe elevare salatissime sanzioni per coloro che non garantiscono un servizio accettabile, viste le esose tasse per il bagaglio pagate da ciascun passeggero.

]]> http://jamesmclean84.wordpress.com/2009/11/19/james-mclean-meets-reuben-agboola/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:34:22 +0000 James McLean http://jamesmclean84.wordpress.com/2009/11/19/james-mclean-meets-reuben-agboola/

Reuben works for a car company in Southampton these days

But who, really, is this man? Many people may have seen him playing football on a Saturday afternoon in the late 80’s and early 90’s, but what is he truly like?

I sit alone in a quiet corner of the pub, pondering these very questions, as a guy at the opposite end of the room asks his wife if she wants one more for the road.

Other than that I am kept company solely by my own thoughts.

My nerves are on edge, as I keep replaying a question that was asked of me earlier in the afternoon – “what on earth are you going to say?”

I know that, in this tranquil room, and in just a few moments time, one of my own defensive idols as a child is about to walk through the door, and still that question haunts my thoughts – what on earth are you going to say?

Then it happens – the man himself walks in, strides straight over to my table and with a big smile and friendly eyes shakes my hand, and humbly introduces himself.

As if Reuben Agboola really needs to introduce himself! He played over 250 first-class games in his career, is a cult hero at both Southampton and Sunderland, and while at the former helped his side to the runners-up spot in the 1983-84 Division 1 – Saints’ highest ever final league position.

He also featured nine times for Nigeria, including seven appearances in the 1992 African Cup of Nations, where his country finished 3rd.

But his native country almost remained Agboola-less permanently following some trouble getting into the country before his first cap.

“I didn’t even have a Visa, because things were rushed so much,” recalls the 47-year-old.

“We were at the check-in queue at Heathrow, and they wouldn’t even give me a boarding card because I didn’t have a visa.

“I was with a friend from the Nigerian FA – he was about 7ft, and dripping in Armani!

“He basically asked for the names of the staff at the check-in, because he wouldn’t take the rap if one of the president’s Super Eagles players wasn’t allowed into the country.

“We managed to get our boarding cards in the end!”

However, this wasn’t quite the end of the fun and games for the soon-to-be International footballer.

Having made it out of England, Agboola was met with another obstacle in Nigeria.

“At the Nigerian airport they were all looking through my English passport to try and find my visa!”

The rest, as they say, is history, and Agboola made it to the squad in good time – almost.

“I didn’t realise until later the rest of the guys had been waiting for my arrival so we could go and play a practice match.”

That “practice” match was against the local Lagos team at the national stadium, just two days before a competitive first team international.

“We were told we wouldn’t be needing shin pads. I got a massive gash down the front of my leg when one of their players came in with a tackle from the top.

“Their captain got sent off, and we lost 1-0. I remember thinking, wow, I can’t wait for Saturday!

“As it turns out though, the locals were better than the team we ended up playing that weekend – we won that one 5-0!”

Agboola, who did some coaching throughout his later career, retired from professional football following a brief spell with Swansea in 1992, though he did later turn out for Woking.

He became landlord of the “Sporting View” bar at the Southampton Sports Center, before relocating to Majorca, running a bar for a year.

He later returned to the south coast, where he currently works for a car company in Southampton.

“I evaluate whatever turns up, and get to rip it to bits. The log books are the worst part – we can’t sell the cars without them!

“Everything is computerized these days, which is meant to be idiot-proof, but it is really not – my boss manages to get it wrong all the time.

“It’s OK though, because it means I can get away with blaming him for just about anything!”

When he is not at work, Reuben is a keen golfer – as evidenced by the clubs present behind his desk in his office.

“I never go too far without my clubs, just in case I need to make a quick getaway!” he laughs.

Photography and article by James McLean.

Incidentally, the image on the top right, along with 2 of my other images taken on the same day, were published in the Sunderland match day programme against West Ham United at the Stadium of Light on 31st October 2009.

Ten passengers on a plane which crash-landed at Heathrow Airport are to sue aircraft manufacturer Boeing…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: flight asia. The blog is also related to: thailand travel.

Ten passengers on a plane which crash-landed near Heathrow are to sue aircraft manufacturer Boeing…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: cheap flight ticket. The blog is also related to: manchester flight.

http://www.celebrity-gossip.net/celebrities/hollywood/zac-efron-touches-down-in-london-212363

13:50pm – London, Heathrow to Dubai now boarding! Twas the biggest feckin plane I’ve ever been on with an upstairs downstairs the whole lot. I’m shuffling along behind a group people all wearing the same orange “LOVE JESUS” t-shirt… dunno what they’re hoping for in Dubai. I walk miles down the plane (yah seriously miles) trying to find my seat. I pass some old Muslim guy praying to the seat in front of him. There are all sorts on this plane. Elvis, Mother Theresa the lot.

My seat is j70 or something like that, and I wonder what type of character I’m going to be sitting beside. A mad Arab, some big happy African businessman, those crazy jesus people… who knows? I reach my seat anyway and give a nod to the younglad sitting beside me. He has a certain go about him… a ceann… I ask him where he’s from and he goes “Carlow”. Can’t get away from the feckin Irish!!! He’s on his way to Dubai for a connection to Australia. We skit and howl for a while.

Takeoff time approaches. Our seats were right in front of the air hostess seat, which is facing us, so this nice black hostess sits in, and it’s kind of funny because there’s about one meter between us and we’re face to face. Where will I look? Up, left, right, down, oops! don’t look down, she’ll think you’re looking at her legs… well you are, but still… hmmm have a quick gander at this magazine… diddle dee doo… I eventually say well howzit goin? She’s from Zimbabwe, and I tell her I’m going traveling around East Africa, which she’s delighted about. We talk about her country, she tells me lots of places to go and things to see and blah de blah… After take off she heads off for a while and returns with a camera. She takes off her Emirates air hostess hat and asks me to put it on so she can take a photo! She takes a few snaps and gives me a polaroid copy. I must say I looked quite DASHING with that funky hat…

Not much else happened, chatted with the paddy beside me, slept a few hours, ate some pretty good Indian food or Dubai food whatever it was. Arrived in Dubai at about 12:30am local time… There’s an 8 hour stopover so I try to find a place to kip. I found a quiet enough bench after about an hour of wandering around. Took me a while to get to sleep…. The morning call to Allah woke me at about 5am. I suppose I shouldn’t have went to sleep outside the feckin prayer room, but it was the quietest shpot at the time. 10 minutes later and the morning call is still going strong so I pack up my €2 Shop travel pilla and head off to grab some free brekky in the special “Emirates Stopover” lounge. I finally board the plane to Entebbe at 8am.

Flight to Entebbe: Not much happened. Got to see a real desert out the window. It looked pretty hot. Sat beside two Chinese people… We stopped in Ethiopia to let a few people off, saw a huge black flying insect thing chasing our plane as we took off for the second time towards Entebbe.

Raid on Entebbe: Finally I arrive in Entebbe on Tuesday at 2:15pm after a solid lump of traveling. It’s pretty hot and humid… just as you’d expect in the Devils Petri Dish. Welcome to East Africa!

The sweat from the last 20 hours of traveling had turned into a sort of gel, and now hot and humid Entebbe has defrosted it. I’m a walking tub o’ absolute shweat. But that’s ok cos everyone else smells of shweat too. Up at the customs desk, they’re charging folk 50dollars here and there for entry into the country… the guy looks at my passport and says “Irish are OK” and waves me through. Sound.

Dinas brother Bashir (pronounced BashEEL) is waiting for me with a “SEAN COOKE” sign outside the door. I feel all cool and important. I should have worn my shades… This was all organized in the last 24hours. I rang my aunt Dina the night before and asked “hey throw us a few numbers of your relatives I might call in for a cup of tea some day”…. and now one day later her brother is here to pick me up. He’s 35 years old but looks much younger, at times he looks like Wesley Snipes. He’s about 5ft 5, he has one front tooth missing, he has a slow hearty laugh like “heh… heh….heh….heh”. He has a wife named Aisha and four kids called Bushuwa, Haji, Jab and Brehma. Can you tell who’s a boy or girl just from the name??? His family live back at his village Masaka, but he sticks around the city during the week. I thought he lived in Entebbe, the town we flew into, so I was looking forward to acclimatizing to the weather and culture and all that before hitting the crazy capital, but he tells me “Let’s go to Kampala”… which is the capital. I said “aren’t you supposed to show me a nice aul hotel here no? Dina told me you were going to show me”… and he goes “no…. we are going to Kampala!”

I was happy and terrified at the same time… From Kilsheelan to Kampala in 20 hours. I could suffer an overdose of mentalness….

I’m sweating buckets and need some water quick, but no, before I know it we’re in a taxi going 100mph down the road. The speed limit here is 100KMPH, but lots of people here drive old cars whose speedometers are still in MPH, so they just drive at 100MPH.

“Why are you driving so fast?”

“Look the speed limit is 100, and I’m driving at 100!!!”

“Yeah but that’s miles per hour…”

“No it’s 100 which is the speed limit, so I’m OK!!!”*

(*actual conversation)

I suppose it doesn’t really matter because if their cars speedometer is in kph, they just break the speed limit anyways. The drivers in Uganda are simply nuts. No two ways about it. They take a lot of risks, stupid risks, (like over taking two trucks on a blind bend up a hill with a dip… at night. No exaggeration by the way.) And don’t get me started about the potholes, you could pitch a tent in the smaller ones.

*NEWS UPDATE* – A minibus was crushed to bits on the Jinja road when an oncoming truck decided to overtake 9 vehicles at once. The truck didn’t make it to the front in time and smashed into a minibus killing everybody. 15 people in total. I saw them dragging the bodies out of the ditch on the news. The truck driver fled the scene. A few days prior, a military truck smashed into the same type of minibus killing nearly everybody. The military guys fled the scene. This sort of stuff happens a lot…

We’re on a good road though, Entebbe road. It has a few streetlights, and it’s the only one in the country with cats eyes. But it’s daytime so that doesn’t matter. I turn to Basir and tell him I’m roasht. He laughs “he….he…he…” and tells me it’s winter in Uganda. “Only” 25 degrees. He says he’s cold. He teaches me some Luganda, their local language. Oli otya jebale ko. Kaaaaaali! The word I’ll be most acquainted with is Mzungu, which means white man. He told me to expect to be called Mzungu at least a hundred times a day. It’s not a racist term, it just means “white dude” …. like “Hey mzungu you wanna buy this?” etc. There are t-shirts for sale around town which say “My name is not Mzungu!”

Nearly every car or truck has black smoke billowing out the exhaust and into your lungs. There’s naer an NCT to be seen for MILES in this country. Cars are driven to shite here and are fixed at the side of the road whenever the wheel or roof or whatever finally falls off. The pollution isn’t too bad when you’re driving fast, since you can just drive straight through the clouds of black smoke, but as you enter the city, and get yourself stuck in a Kampala Jam, that’s when your lungs are shown a thing or two about how to make a good phlegm. There is thick smoke and dust EVERYWHERE. Red dust. The roads are tarmac but they are red from the dust. Paths are concrete but they also have a nice red covering. Nearly every surface is covered in red dust. You walk around for 2 minutes and the soles of your feet are red. Wipe your face with a nice white tissue after a day in town and guess what?

So Basil has found me a nice hotel in the town, just for the first night. Our taxi makes it’s way through the streets as hundreds of boda boda motorbike taxis zip past us through the lines of traffic. The boda boda is the most dangerous form of transport in Uganda. A tiny motorbike, which costs a couple of hundred to buy, is driven at breakneck speeds through the city with anything up to three people on the back. Or a cupboard or armchair. I’ve even seen a photo of some guy carrying a cow on one. They drive up paths, the wrong way down roads, through junctions without looking, through the tiniest gaps between trucks, tippin and clattering off cars here and there, (wierdly enough they stop for red lights…) and all this while trying to keep their eyes open just enough to see while at the same time keeping them closed enough to keep the dust and smoke out. They really should use sunglasses or something. There is no right of way or rules of the road here. Sometimes the Police come out to direct traffic but for the most part it’s pretty chaotic. We pass a hotel called “Excellent Hotel”. That’s not my one though. Pity. Nearly every shop on the smaller streets is blashting out rap or reggaeton, but once we get onto the main Kampala Rd. it’s pretty decent. Still haven’t seen any white people/mzungus.

So we arrive at my hotel. Funnily enough it’s is painted the same colour as the dust found everywhere…. or is that actually a layer of dust and maybe it was originally painted white or something. I can’t tell. I say hello to the security guard with the shotgun as I walk in to the FOYER or whatever you call them. It’s actually a daycent hotel.

Right, €50 room booked, bags thrown in. It’s like 5pm. I tell Bashir I need to get a few things in the shop, mostly water. Can’t drink the tap water in this country unless tis boiled. So we saunter out of the hotel and walk down the street a bit. It’s not too bad, I’m getting stared at a bit, but no muggings or shootings like the papers would have you believe.

So I’m tipping away enjoying the sights and sounds but not the smoke and dust when Bashir calls me. I turn around and he’s sitting on a boda boda and he points at another one and tells me to hop on. Feckit I say, it’s now or never! Bashir shouts “Garden City” to my driver and we tear off like a rocket through the congested streets of Kampala. I’m hanging onto the driver for dear life and I look over at Bashir who’s just sitting there relaxed with his hands on his knees. I tried being cool and I put my hands on my knees like Bashir, but lasted about two seconds. I ended up holding onto the bar at the back which was like 50% cool, good enough. I want to blend in like the locals and I’m getting pretty close. Just need to work on my tan.

We approached a roundabout and I was like “Ah they have roundabouts here”… but the rules are a bit different. I’m still trying to figure it out but I think you just drive as fast as you can onto them and make sure not to indicate or look left or right.

So we arrive at Garden City about 5 minutes later, me white knuckled and full of adrenaline, Bashir cool as a cat. I give the driver 1,000Ugsh which is about 35cent.

Garden City seems to be where all the white expats go to shop. I am no longer the only Mzungu in town. It’s a nice place, it’s pretty much like any mall you’d find in a decent city. Bashir wants to introduce me to his old college friend Josef who works in the cinema upstairs, so we saunter up. We meet up with Josef and he turns out to be the soundest. He brings me up onto the roof so I can see the city and we talk about this that and the other. He was in art college with Bashir a few years ago and they shared a room. Josef is a bit of a party animal and he wants to know if I can get him any Mzungu ladies… I say I’ll see what I can do if he gets me some Ugandan ladies, and a free ticket into the cinema. We shake on it and he starts pointing to different ladies passing by and asks me “so what size ass do you like? This one? That one? How about that one over there?” He’s a good man. Not a great worker though. He’s supposed to be working in the cinema but he’s hanging around the shopping center with us, Warriors style.

So we say our goodbyes and I go shopping for some water with Bashir, then another boda boda ride back to the hotel. I say thanks to Bashir and he heads off, we arrange to meet up tomorrow so I can buy a phone and find some cheaper accommodation. The rest of the night was just spent chillaxing in the hotel room and drinking lots of water. Went to sleep at about 8pm.

It’s hard to believe that this meal took place over a week ago. We’re now back from our honeymoon in Rome and despite the bad weather on the first two days, the trip was fantastic. I can’t wait to go back to Italy!

But before our flight out of Heathrow Terminal 5 (my first time flying out from that terminal), we had an early lunch at Gordon Ramsay’s first foray into airport feeding – Plane Food. We got a table for two located as near to the planes as possible. Looking around, it looked like most customers were of the single businessman type though I did see one large French family there for a late breakfast. We decided on two courses each, skipping the starter.

Blai had the Roasted cod, polenta chips, peas and spicy ketchup (£12.50). The cod was moist with crisp skin and the peas were slightly mushy, not exactly what I was expecting but I was told they tasted nice. We both loved the polenta chips – crispy outsides, soft insides and perfect with the chunky tomato chutney on the side (pah, not really ketchup).

I too had something fishy with the Smoked salmon and haddock fishcakes with harissa mayonnaise (£11.50). I first saw these on Londonelicious but never thought I’d order the same thing but of all the main courses listed, this one was the most appealing at the time. The fishcakes were full of flaky fish and excellent. The harissa mayonnaise could have used more of a kick – I couldn’t taste much harissa.

We couldn’t skip dessert of course! I had the Pear tart Tatin with vanilla ice cream (£5.50) while Blai chose the Mandarin cheesecake with chocolate ice cream (£5.50). My tart Tatin was quite nice and very large but unfortunately, only lukewarm. Blai’s cheesecake was wonderfully light and fruity. Overall, the food was excellent for airport food (an environment I’m sure is not short of restrictions).

Service was a bit slow though for a restaurant at an airport; when everyone’s got a plane to catch, it’s unacceptable that one has to ask twice for the bill. That bill was reasonable but I thought the £1.50 cover charge was a little unreasonable. Is that really necessary? Anyway, apart from that, we were enjoying ourselves so much that we had to run to our gate to board our plane and then we were on our way to Rome…

Gordon Ramsay Plane Food
Terminal 5 (after security)
London Heathrow Airport

عکس های ویکتوریا بکهام در فرودگاه هیدرو در لندن

The following article was published in Freedom 70(16) 29/08/2009

Climate camp 09 London

Camp for Climate Action (here on CCA) is a 365 day of the year movement that for one week of the year squats disused land and produces a camp that takes a simultaneous approach of taking radical direct action on climate criminals, and positively displays sustainable, communal, non-hierarchical, empowered participatory living – thereby showing to ourselves and others that a radical, boss-less alternative to the capitalist form of social organisation is possible.

CCA directly emerged out of the mobilisations against the G8 in Gleneagles in 2005, so is one of many anarchist inspired social movements that have emerged in North America and Europe of late, following the collapse of communism as the dominant opposition to the ‘free market’ nightmare in the early nineties.

It was felt in 2005 that a new frame was needed on the issue of climate change – one that targeted the main economic and political drivers of climate change, and one that was prepared to take direct action to thwart the endless rise of greenhouse gas emissions that are killing hundreds of thousands of the world’s poor each year.

It is to this aim, that following very successful camps at Drax Coal-fired power station

Workshop at heathrow camp 07

in Yorkshire in 2006, at Heathrow airport in 2007, and at Kingsnorth Power Station in Kent last summer, that CCA has the city of London as its primary target for 2009 – this financial meltdown is the golden opportunity to highlight an economy that is failing people and planet. On April 1^st, to coincide with the G20, CCA held a 24hour “flash camp” outside the European Carbon Exchange to draw attention to the idea that more western capitalism and imperialism – in the form of Carbon Trading – as the solution to a problem that it has caused is utterly ridiculous.

Pulling down fences at Ratcliffe Power station, Oct 09

On August the 26^th, thousands will once again “swoop” down onto a yet undisclosed location in London to set up camp in full view of the habitat of the unholy grail of transnational corporations, that are desperately trying to keep fossil fuels and ‘free market’ capitalism on the table; of our elite representatives who choose their glitzy watering holes and schmoozing avenues above the people they supposedly represent; and of the casino banks that finance the whole thing.

CJA action 16/12/09 at UNFCC COP15

Let’s be clear, CCA demands social justice with a de-carbonized economy. The ‘free market’ model has long been shown to be an instrument of human misery, of which climate change is simply the tip of a rather large melting ice berg. The UN summit this December in Copenhagen looks like it will re-legitimise this failed insanity under the banner of Carbon Trading, that will encourage the march of privatization of humanities most precious resources, maintain the rigid class structure, instigate carbon colonialism by disposing indigenous peoples of their lands and forcing the worlds poor to sell their rights to pollute, all the while creating a welcome invitation to the cheating Enrons of the future, where corporations and elite politicians will do all they can to fiddle the figures, keep those fossil fuels burning and profits growing, even while the droughts spread and the death toll rises.

We must stop this madness, and to do so we need an urgent radical broad based movement of civil society. If the future is to be bright, it must be red, black and green.

The 4 o’clock wakeup call slowly got me away from Morpheus’ land. My body was wrapped in this gentle spirit, transgressing time, frontiers , but my mind was racing toward reality, segmenting the long day ahead into different time zones, wishing nevertheless for an extra two hours in bed .

Need to be up, wash and away by 4h45. No time to waste, a resounding phone call from the taxi man outside broke the stillness and quietness of the morning, marking the beginning of a long day.

Heathrow T4 is slowly filled by a steady flow of half awaken passengers checking up for the red eyes flight. This morning I am one of them, first morning flight London to Amsterdam a 6.35 departure, Boeing 737-800 is full, all 147 passengers accounted for however clearance for takeoff is not given due to the foggy sky over Schiphol Airport.

At last we are on the way 15minutes late, captain promised to make up for it. A short push, a long taxiing to the runway and then the deep roared and a blasting engine lifted the flying machine on high to the splendour of the morning sky and over the cloud an astounding sunrise dictated the mood of the day above.

And I watch in awe the beauty of God.

MR

Trevi Fountain -- near our hotel!

Ahhh, yes. I have just finished three article outlines, readings for an essay and nearly completed a second essay. Despite being holed up in my room all day (literally have not stepped foot outside), the day has been rather productive by most standards. And, fortunately, I still have a few hours of productivity in me before I get to sleep so I can wake up at 415A to head to the airport! Normally being up at such an ungodly hour would be unacceptable, but when one has to arise for the reason of heading to Italy, it doesn’t seem quite so bad.

So, being that our flight leaves at 730A, Lindsay and I agreed that getting to the airport a bit before 6A would probably be ideal. We’re leaving from Heathrow, a busier airport considering the big time international flights, so cutting it close is not on the agenda. Due to the fact that we live so close to Holborn station (home of the Piccadilly line), we had planned on tubing it directly from the station to Heathrow until we realized that the tube doesn’t open until 530A and doesn’t hit Holborn until 542A, which means getting to Heathrow before 6A would be impossible. Although there’s a pretty decent chance we would still make our flights, it wasn’t worth the headache. In lieu, we have reserved a cab at 4:45A to take us to Paddington Station where we can jump on the Heathrow Express (which starts outbound journeys at 510A) for 15 or so pounds. Although it’s a bit more expensive than tubing, our options were rather limited and missing our Roman holiday would have been a huge disappointment.

Also, we’re flying British Airways which works out well. Instead of the discount airlines (EasyJet, Ryan Air, etc.) where you are limited to one piece of hold luggage, we are allowed one checked bag, a carry-on and a personal item. Although we’ll likely forgo the checked bag, the carry-on + personal item bit is pretty nice. I’ll be able to take my laptop to upload pics and stay connected to the world!

All in all, I cannot wait to cross Rome off of my list of places to see! It hasn’t fully hit me yet, since I’ve been so engulfed in getting work done, but I know that I’ll feel that kid-in-Disneyland sensation when my alarm wakes me up in the morning! This time tomorrow, I’ll be sitting in a ristorante near the Trevi Fountain practicing my Italian, eating authentic Italian food and drinking Italian coffee. Meglio del sesso. That’s what I have to say about that.

Ciao,

Also, if I didn’t mention: through Expedia’s UK site, we were able to snag round-trip tickets and two nights in a 3* hotel for 215 pounds each including all taxes! Pretty sweet deal, and we’re flying with a legit airline!

 

Bmi (British Midland Airways) Airbus A319-131 G-DBCE (msn 2429) LHR, originally uploaded by Airliners Gallery.

Lufthansa (Frankfurt) is facing a decision on whether to sink more money into bmi according to this published report.

News link:

business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/transport/article6911708.ece

Copyright Photo: Bruce Drum.

Please click on photo or link below for full view, information, prints for sale and other photos:

http://airlinersgallery.com/2/22a3154/#/gallery/bmi-british-midland-airways/bmi-a319-100-g-dbce-01-apr-lhr-bd-lr-101529/

Dagen för hemfärd.

Det tog oss ett bra tag att ta oss vid tunnelbana & tåg till Heathrow.

Vi hade beräknat tiden fel, så vi fick springa igenom alla kontroller för att hinna med flyget. När vi väl var på så hamnade flygplanet i kö, så vi fick vänta ett tag på start.

Vi hade roligt i London, ändå var det skönt att vara på väg hem!

A United Airlines pilot is arrested on suspicion of being drunk before boarding a plane at Heathrow Airport…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: airport transportation. The blog is also related to: airport flights.

 

Aer Lingus Airbus A320-214 EI-DEP (msn 2542) LHR, originally uploaded by Airliners Gallery.

Aer Lingus (Dublin) is considering selling four older aircraft (four A320s, three A321s and four A330s) to raise capital.

News link:

www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2009/1110/1224258479348.html

Copyright Photo: Antony J. Best.

Please click on photo or link below for full view, information, prints for sale and other photos:

http://airlinersgallery.com/2/1239615/#/gallery/aer-lingus/aer-lingus-a320-200-ei-dep-96-apr-lhr-a6-lr-900615/

Lufthansa Italia Airbus A319-114 D-AILH (msn 641) LHR (new titles), originally uploaded by Airliners Gallery.

Copyright Photo: Antony J. Best.

Please click on photo or link below for full view, information, prints for sale and other photos:

http://airlinersgallery.com/2/25b8dae/#/gallery/lufthansa-italia/lufthansa-italia-a319-100-d-ailh-88-apr-lhr-a6-lr-903993/

 

Lufthansa Italia Airbus A319-114 D-AILH (msn 641) LHR (new titles), originally uploaded by Airliners Gallery.

Copyright Photo: Antony J. Best.

Please click on photo or link below for full view, information, prints for sale and other photos:

http://airlinersgallery.com/2/25b8dae/#/gallery/lufthansa-italia/lufthansa-italia-a319-100-d-ailh-88-apr-lhr-a6-lr-903993/

This week I will be blogging from Cape Town where I will be attending Africa Com 2009.

http://africa.comworldseries.com

In fact I am writing this whilst at Heathrow’s infamous Terminal 5 waiting to board – hope my golf clubs have made it – you know how much business is done on the fairway…!

Mind you, I don’t think I’ll have much energy left, every minute seems to be accounted for.

There just aren’t enough MINUTES IN A DAY:

• Consumers used more than 2.2 trillion minutes of use (MOUs) in the last 12 months (July 2007 – June 2008), marking a staggering 9,958% increase during 1991.
• In the first half of 2008, consumers talked on average a total of 187 billion minutes each month. That is more than 6 billion minutes each day, and amounts to about 766 minutes per customer each month.
• In the first six months of 2008 (Jan.  1 – June 30), consumers used more than 1.1 trillion MOUs, an increase of more than 10%compared to the same time period in 2007.
• The largest spike in MOUs took place between June 2005 and June 2006. During this 12-month period, MOUs increased by almost 418 billion, from approximately 1.26 trillion to 1.68 trillion.