Floods and fog, originally uploaded by magnum_lady.

I took Lucy to Dublin yesterday to see Little Boots in concert. She was brilliant (I’ll do a blog about that tomorrow).
Jono was meant to be coming as well, but his back is too bad to stand for any length of time. So he stayed with Andy.

We went on the train and because of the floods the train line between Carrick on Shannon and Longford is under between 3-5 feet of water. So we had to get a bus from Carrick to Longford and the same on the way back. So it took around 4 hours each way Sligo-Dublin instead of the usual 3.

This photo is of Carrick on Shannon, it’s hard to see the floods because of the fog. The yellow building you can see a tiny bit of is the Landmark Hotel.

The main N4 road towards Tesco and the retail park is completely flooded so there is a detour up through the town of Carrick on Shannon and down by the MBNA building. There were big tailbacks of traffic and the bus driver was telling us that the traffic was so bad the other day it took almost two hours for him to get from Carrick on Shannon to Longford.

So if you are travelling in that direction be prepared for delays.

Thanks so much for the good wishes for C. So far so good.

OH Alb Valley Railway, how much do I have to pay for privilege of the tracks and a swift gettaway? My lover lay behind me, probably sleeping as we speak. I want to go where I won’t whisper; I am hard granite with a streak of brilliant quartz that must’ve fooled her. Babe but amethyst is cheap. She sought me like a new cure for a problem that ran deep, and much too deep for me to handle but I like to take these things. She’d blow me like a candle and I’d listen to her ring and rattle sob and cry, lying naked side by side: silhouettes in tv light, trying to work up the might to move my arms so I can fall, answer the softly beckoned call, to go to sleep and leave it all for mornings, when the light streams in and lets you see that no one wins and everyone is lonely and thinks no one understands.

She was probably lonely but not much like me because I think she kept it bottled, tightly like she does. Lonely people see it deep down in each other’s eyes; they hear it rasped and breathed away in otherwise nondescript sighs. And I met her at a party and thought, fuck it, what’s to lose? We lived like Caspians for seasons, watching early morning news and meeting friends at local concerts, getting drunk and probably high. Every word of every story that I told her was a lie but still she pressed herself against me, and all my friends know I’m weak. She pressed her finger to my lip and told me sharply not to speak.

CALGARY, Nov. 27 /CNW/ – Canadian Pacific (TSX/NYSE: CP) and Natural Resources Canada have partnered on an industry-leading biodiesel fuel pilot project under the National Renewable Diesel Demonstration Initiative, announced Lee Richardson, Member of Parliament for Calgary Centre on behalf of the Honourable Lisa Raitt, Minister of Natural Resources, and Fred Green, Canadian Pacific President and CEO, today. It is the first time biodiesel will be used in Canadian cold-weather rail service.

“The Government of Canada is working closely with industry partners like Canadian Pacific to support the use of renewable diesel in the Canadian fuel market,” said Mr. Richardson. “Our Government is investing over $800,000 in this important step forward to help reduce Canada’s total greenhouse gas emissions.”

The Government of Canada has announced its intent to regulate an average five percent renewable fuel content based on the national gasoline pool by 2010 as well as a requirement for an average two percent renewable content in diesel fuel and heating oil by 2011 or earlier, subject to technical feasibility. The National Renewable Diesel Demonstration Initiative provides an opportunity for real-world testing and performance evaluation in advance of regulatory action.

“Rail is already the most efficient means to move goods long-haul,” said Green. “This initiative positions CP to make a lasting impact by further reducing our network’s environmental footprint. This partnership with the Government of Canada is an opportunity to test the reliability of biodiesel in cold weather, ensuring we continue to provide safe and efficient operations for customers across North America.”

Biodiesel is a cleaner renewable alternative to traditional fuels, made from either vegetable oil or animal fats. Biodiesel reduces emissions of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and particulate matter and also acts as a natural lubricant.

As part of the five-month test cycle, CP will operate four GE AC4400 Diesel Locomotives with FDL-16 engines in captive service between Calgary and Edmonton. General Electric and Calgary-based fuel supplier 4Refuels are cooperating with CP during this testing phase, which began in early November and will run through the end of March.

Canadian Pacific will undertake routine detailed mechanical examinations of the locomotives in the pilot project. The information gathered will be used to determine if a biodiesel mixture of five percent (B5) has any significant adverse effects on a locomotive or its associated systems in cold-climate operation. Impact to reliability, potential changes to the overhaul or maintenance work scope and reviews of specific components on the locomotives will also be monitored.

About the National Renewable Diesel Demonstration Initiative:

The National Renewable Diesel Demonstration Initiative (NRDDI) supports projects that demonstrate how renewable diesel fuel will perform under Canadian conditions. This research is in support of the Government’s intention to regulate renewable fuel content, specifically the proposed requirement for an average of two percent renewable fuel content in diesel fuel and heating oil by 2011 or earlier. This requirement is however conditional upon the technical feasibility of biodiesel use being demonstrated under a range of Canadian conditions. This is a part of the Government of Canada’s Renewable Fuels Strategy.

About Canadian Pacific:

Canadian Pacific, through the ingenuity of its employees located across Canada and in the United States, remains committed to being the safest, most fluid railway in North America. Our people are the key to delivering innovative transportation solutions to our customers and to ensuring the safe operation of our trains through the more than 1,100 communities where we operate. Come and visit us at www.cpr.ca to see how we can put our ingenuity to work for you. Canadian Pacific is proud to be the official rail freight services provider for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

Who knew complaining about pedestrian access to the waterfront is a Toronto tradition dating back to the late 1800s? During over 151 years of Union Station history, Torontonians demanded improved waterfront access as crossing a dozen train tracks was often a matter of life and limb.

So says Derek Boles, railway historian for the Toronto Railway Historical Association, board member at Heritage Toronto, and chair of the Union Station Revitalization Public Advisory Group. He provided an illustrated history of Union Station at a North Toronto Historical Board meeting in the Northern District Library (40 Orchard View Drive) on Nov. 25.

Toronto's second Union Station between York & Simcoe Sts., 1873 (courtesy image)

The familiar commuter train hub at 65 Front Street West wasn’t Toronto’s first Union Station either.

“The first was in service from 1858 to 1871; the second from 1873 to 1896. The third one was an extensive alteration to the 1873 station and it served until the present Union Station opened in 1927,” he said. “With all these train tracks being built, access to the waterfront was a real problem for the people of Toronto . . . the great crossing issue remained an important priority with thousands of people streaming across the busy tracks.”

On May 16, 1853, the first steam-powered passenger train left Toronto for Aurora from a “wooden depot located close to the eastern entrance of today’s Union Station. Over the course of the next century, the railways were to have a profound impact on the City of Toronto and its geography.”

The first Union Station was shared by the Grand Trunk Railway Co., and two other companies. The second, considered to be the most opulent of its time, was opened on Dominion Day 1873 (the clock that once adorned the tower of that station is still in use today at the town hall in Huntsville, Ont.).

By 1884, the Canadian Pacific Railway Co. entered Toronto. Shortly thereafter the renovations were completed in 1896 and marked what was to be the third incarnation of Union Station. It functioned until 1907 though not necessarily to satisfactory levels.

“By this time, Union Station had become totally rundown . . . there were up to 200 trains a day, almost as many that come into it now,” he said.

And then there was the Great Toronto Fire of 1904. It cleared off all the buildings on the site for what later would become the present Union Station. Toronto Terminals Railway (a group of architects) was incorporated in 1906 to build a new Union Station but construction wouldn’t actually begin for another decade.

Once built, it sat vacant for seven years because of political disagreements over where tracks running in and out of the City should be laid. This was a huge issue in Toronto throughout the 1920s.

“You can only imagine how frustrated Torontonians must have been to have this beautiful, massive building, one of the largest and most impressive structures in the City, sitting empty for seven years while they were forced to use the old Union Station,” he said.

Leap ahead to 1966 when Toronto came dangerously close to losing Union Station. It was called inadequate for modern transportation needs and talk turned to replacing it with something more contemporary. New York City’s mighty Pennsylvania Station was being demolished between 1963 and 1966 and there was increasing pressure to do the same here.

The most serious threat to Union Station came in 1968 when the railways decided to commercially redevelop its land. “The railways were encouraged by a pro-development city council under Mayor William Dennison, who never saw a new building he didn’t like.”

In 1975 Union Station was declared a national historic site but the designation didn’t afford much protection; that came in 1990 with the Heritage Railway Stations Protection Act.

If you peer up today at the Front Street entrance, you can see the names of the railways that built it, which includes the Grand Trunk Railway. “By the time the station opened the Grand Trunk Railway was no longer in existence . . . none of their trains ever actually used the station.”

For an in-depth look at Union Station’s history, Boles’ new book on the subject, “Toronto’s Railway Heritage” (Arcadia Publishing), is available at Chapters-Indigo.

It must be remembered … there are a lot of senior citizens in Bournemouth, and you can’t expect them to move very fast!

We’ve started planning for next year … we booked tickets and accommodation for the André Rieu concert in Maastricht next July. We already have several of his DVDs, and can’t understand why, to our knowledge, he’s only performed in Britain once (at the Royal Albert Hall, about five years ago) and nobody here seems ever to have heard of him. But, we can’t book the train tickets (the best way to get there) yet, because Eurostar will only (I think; I’ll have to check) accept bookings 80 days in advance.

We also have plans for Queensland in August, but we don’t want to do any more until we’re back from the cruise. Our passports are both due for renewal, and don’t want to commit a large amount of money till the new docs are back in our hands.

But, we don’t need passports at Easter, when we’re booked for dog-sitting.

Iced-over Surrey railway lines. This is the most westerly branch of the electrified London Bridge line.

Battle lines have been drawn between Scotrail and weary commuters desperate to cut down their journey time from a village in north east Scotland to the predominant city of Aberdeen.

Liberal MSP, Mike Rumbles believes that money should be spent on a new train station in the progressing north-east village of Kintore but in this age of economic recession is this really necessary? In 2003 Rumbles, Liberal MSP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, had a vision for a new commuter service between Inverness and Aberdeen and for new stations in Laurencekirk and Kintore to be built in the process. Six years on and the reopening of the Laurencekirk station after 42 years of closure has been an enormous success in the opinion of Rumbles but his plea for money to open another station in Kintore is controversial in this time of financial crisis.

When the idea was requested by Rumbles in Scottish Parliament on October 7, transport minister Stewart Stevenson replied that the focus of the SNP government at the moment is the rail links between Aberdeen and Glasgow, not the minor obstacle of a connection between Kintore and Aberdeen. Though this makes sense, many MSPs argued against Stevenson’s view, although some might put this down as unrelated to the matter in hand and just a way in which to compete against the SNP government. Richard Baker (Labour) told the house that he did not agree with the SNP’s “rose tinted view”, that Rumbles had “hit the nail on the head” when he had mentioned Laurencekirk and that it would be just as successful in Kintore yet none of the MSPs who spoke on Tuesday seemed to recognise that Kintore is less than four miles from the nearest train station in Inverurie.

Rumbles complained that there was a lack of both support and interest in his plea for the new station. North East MSP, Nigel Don, responded to this by telling him that “we know that more stations means more stops – correctly – which increases journey times. That is one of the issues that will never be resolved”. Maureen Watt (Scottish National Party) quite clearly made the point earlier on in proceedings that increasing service and frequency is SNPs main priority thus making the Kintore Station plan completely pointless.

Transport Minister, Stevenson wrapped up the debate by telling the house that the SNP government need to analyse the situation and find what will be the best investment for Scotland’s rail service leaving a small light at the end of an extremely long tunnel for Rumbles.

Illustration by Manos Symeonakis

There’s a bookshop in my neighborhood that’s always a treat to visit, for in its basement exists a magical world of model trains. The owner has put out a large railway set where a network of tracks winds through an Alpine setting. You can’t help but marvel at the ingenuity of it all: the shiny trains that dart about like wild salmon, the tracks that switch with metronomic precision, the dainty stations and the painted smiles on the plastic figures that wave as the carriages whiz by. It’s idyllic.

Above ground, you come crashing back to reality. These days, a ride on the ISAP electric railway that runs from Kifissia to Piraeus will confirm that your childhood dreams of speeding trains, spotless stations, clockwork punctuality and happy passengers were just that: dreams.

This week represented a new low in the long history of ISAP, as thousands of customers were shocked to discover there was no service between Neo Faliro and Tavros for the next three weeks. ISAP, which is used by some 580,000 passengers a day, had announced the closure but in the manner that embarrassed parents reveal their child has been left behind a year at school. So, few commuters knew they had to use a replacement bus service that added at least half an hour to their journey.

Predictably, chaos ensued. After swarming out of Tavros station like refugees fleeing a ransacked village, passengers squeezed onto a bus that smelled like it had been marinated in aviation fuel and which chugged its way through congested streets. Ironically, part of the reason the 110-million-euro upgrade of the ISAP track is taking place is to increase safety as well as reduce travelling time. But should the driver of one of these packed replacement buses have to slam on the breaks, then osteoporosis-ravaged grannies will snap like twigs and pot-bellied men will fly through the air like human cannonballs.

During the half-hour journey, not many people spoke but you could hear their thoughts. The overriding one was that public transport was not worth the hassle any more. Repeated attempts to convince more than four in 10 Athenians to use the public transport network were being undone by ISAP’s apathy. It’s a basic rule of public transport that commuters will put up with delays or deviations as long as they are kept adequately informed.

However, even the basics are beyond ISAP’s grasp at the moment. Air conditioning, for instance, has not been fitted in all the carriages – a project supposed to have been finished for the 2004 Olympics. So, in the summer they soak up the sun and passengers swelter like Steve McQueen confined to a tin hut as punishment in the “The Great Escape.”

This year, the line from Kifissia to Piraeus has been more of a construction site rather than a railway, as engineers undertake the interminable task of replacing the track. The railway began running in 1869, so the upgrade may well be a necessary project. But the way it’s being managed has completely disrupted a very simple, basic form of public transport that used to work pretty well, albeit with some issues such as cleanliness and security, which have never been adequately tackled. If planning and respect for the customer were a priority, this project would be carried out only at non-peak hours and with engineers working double-time.

Apparently, those at ISAP fail to realize that when people pay to use a service, you have to give them one that’s worth paying for. If they need any confirmation they are selling passengers short, they only have to consider that it costs exactly the same (1 euro) to travel on ISAP as it does to use the metro. Clearly, the two services do not compare and one wonders whether the way they are structured has anything to do with it. ISAP is a public company, an extension of the frappe-swilling, chain-smoking, civil service, whereas the metro is operated by AMEL, which is run as a private company – albeit under the auspices of the Transport Ministry, now part of the Infrastructure Ministry.

However, privatizing ISAP may not necessarily be the answer. There is a school of thought that public transport, the piston that drives the engine of the national economy by getting people to where they need to be every day, is too strategic a sector to end up in private hands. Germany, for instance, has been trying to part-privatize its state-owned railway Deutsche Bahn, the equivalent of the Hellenic Railways Organization (OSE) in Greece, for several years but the scheme has foundered on political and union opposition. CEO Hartmut Mehdorn was forced to resign earlier this year after failing to get the project rolling.

The privatization of British Rail also serves as an example of the pitfalls of selling off the railways. The franchising in Britain, which began in 1994, led to higher prices, increased delays, reduced safety and more disgruntled customers – there are some 500,000 passenger complaints every year.

As unpalatable as these cases make rail privatization sound, Greece will not be able to ignore the idea because the European Parliament and Council have agreed that international passenger services will be liberalized as of January 1 next year. The European Commission has also committed to examining over the next two years whether domestic services should be liberalized as well.

Of course, this affects OSE, which has debts of some 8 billion euros, more immediately than the Kifissia-Piraeus railway. But given the economic necessity of reducing the public sector, the government cannot put off a decision about the future of ISAP for too long, especially when the quality of its service has become so poor.

Perhaps PASOK will look to the Athens metro model, where private sector rules apply to the line’s operations but the government can still exercise influence when it needs to. While politicians sort that one out, all passengers can do is dream of the model railway of their childhoods and cry out to the person in charge: Please sir, can you fix my train set?

This commentary was written by Nick Malkoutzis and first appeared in Athens Plus on November 27, 2009.

The tenth arrondissement is located on the Right Bank in northeastern Paris. Its land area is slightly more than 1.1 square mile (a bit less than 3 square kilometers). Its population is somewhat under ninety thousand and provides about seventy-two thousand jobs. Two of its major attractions are railway stations. If you haven’t seen a grandiose railway station such as in Europe or Manhattan’s Grand Central Station, you really should visit some of Paris’s offerings such as described below.

This arrondissement is not particularly well known to tourists. However, if you visit here you may get a feel for the real Paris, the Paris of Parisians. You might start by viewing the Canal Saint-Martin, which links the Seine River with northeastern Paris. This 2.8 mile (4.5 kilometer) long canal was built from 1806 to 1825 under the orders of Napoleon Bonaparte. Believe it or not, in some places it is only about three feet (one meter) deep. It nearly disappeared in the 1960s to become just another highway. While there is some canal traffic, mostly it’s a place to view the boats and the locks. Recently the neighborhood has become trendy. In 1938 the Canal Saint-Martin was featured in the famous movie Hotel du Nord. And in 2001 it was once again featured in the movie Amelie. The nearby streets are car-free for the later part of Saturday and all day Sunday giving the area a unique cachet.

The Gare de l’Est (East Station) is one of the largest and the oldest railway stations in Paris. Approximately 34 million passengers per year pass through the Gare de l’Est per year, which makes it the fifth-busiest station in Paris. I wonder how many of these passengers have seen the beautiful statue representing the city of Strasbourg at the west end of the station and how many have seen the statue representing the city of Verdun at the east end of the station. It’s a magnificent building with lovely artwork throughout. For example, the arcade includes representations of agricultural products and the coat of arms of over thirty cities in eastern France. The ticketing hall includes a large painting of soldiers leaving in 1914 for the Great War. Both these cities are served by this station, first opened in 1849. Perhaps its most famous train was the Orient Express to Istanbul, first opened in 1883. Times have changed. The Orient Express no longer goes to Paris or Istanbul. But some of the new lines are scheduled to run at almost two hundred miles (three hundred twenty kilometers) an hour and almost ten per cent faster in the future. The station is undergoing extensive renovation; for example, removing ugly plastic that covered beautiful marble for decades.

The Gare du Nord (North Station) handles about 180 million travelers a year. It is the busiest station in Europe, and the third busiest railway station in the world. It was first built in 1846 but already partially demolished in 1860 to permit extensive expansion. The old facade is now in the northern city of Lille. The new, mid-1860s, Neoclassical railway station includes 23 statues representing destinations; the international destinations are more imposing than the national ones. The station was expanded several times and is served by several subway lines. In 2007 the station was the site of a riot involving several hundred people that lasted for eight hours. The Gare du Nord has appeared in several French films, for instance in Les Poupees russes (The Russian Dolls) and American movies such as The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Ultimatum, and Ocean’s Twelve.

Some of the other sights to see in this district are the Porte Saint Denis and Porte Saint Martin erected by order to Louis XIV to celebrate military victories, the Musee de l’Eventail (Fan Museum), Musee de Cristal de Baccarat (Baccarat Crystal Museum), and, for a change of pace, the Place du Colonel Fabien, headquarters of the French Communist Party designed by a famous Brazilian (Communist) architect, Oscar Niemeyer, named in honor of a resistance hero of World War II. A more traditional Place (Square) is the Place de la Republique that is often the site of political or other demonstrations.

Of course you don’t want to be in Paris without sampling fine French wine and food. In my article I Love French Wine and Food – A Midi Merlot I reviewed such a wine and suggested a sample menu: Start with Roque Anchois (Anchovies with Tomato, Spices, Vinegar, and Olive Oil). For your second course you should try Tagine de Lotte (Monkfish Stew). And as dessert indulge yourself with Crème Catalan (Crème brulee with Orange Flower and Aniseed). Your Parisian sommelier (wine steward) will be happy to suggest appropriate wines for each course.

Der Titel ist ein Zugeständnis an den gestrigen Abend und den körperlichen Zustand in dem meine Freunde und ich mich befanden.

Aber wer würde es einem verübeln, nach so viel Bewegung:

Schon der Einstieg in den Abend verlief feucht fröhlich. Wir kamen bei einem Freund eines Freundes unter, genau an der Grenze zwischen Berlin Mitte und Kreuzberg. Nach dem obligatorischen Bier gab es Havanah Club mit Cola in Biergläsern. So “gestärkt” ging es dann zum Konzert. Das war, wie schon gesagt, sehr schweißtreibend.

Danach ging es in eine plüschige Bar, in der wir erfolgreich den wohlverdienten Schlaf nach hinten schoben.

Am nächsten Tag, sprich heute,  ging es wieder mit der Bahn zurück, die sich mal wieder als Logistikunternehmen profilieren durfte. Worin aber der überragende Kundennutzen lag, als ich 2 Stunden lang auf einem Bahnhof auf meine Weiterfahrt warten musste, ist mir bisher noch schleierhaft. Dafür habe ich 2 Leute kennengelernt, ist ja auch was.

Abschließend…

möchte ich noch 2 Links weiterleiten. Sehr interessant ist dieser Vortrag von Daniele Ganser über die NATO Geheimarmeen. Der Zweite Link befasst sich mit einem deutschen Schauspieler und “seinen Weg in die Politik”.

A few weeks back, I blogged about a lecture given to us by Daniel Meadows where he explained his digital storytelling concept.

Enticed by the carrot of free beer offered by our online lecturer Glynn, I have given it a go myself.

I decided to focus on the trip that my sister and I took last summer on the Trans-Siberian railway. The results are below:

I enjoyed it so much that I am planning to do another digital story which I will post up soon.

AIIMS | AIIMS Result – Click Here to View

We’ve recently been loaned a collection of old photographs of the Brownhills district by Laurence Hodgkinson.  They are mainly based on the mineral railway around Chasewater but the first one especially brought back a lot of memories of the late 1940s and early 1950s.I don’t suppose that there are too many people reading this who have much idea where this was taken, but if you put a Canoe Centre on the left-hand side, it becomes obvious.It was the two Brownhills basins of the Wyrley and Essington Canal.  It was in the right hand basin that my friends and I first started fishing, catching, on a good day, small roach and perch and even smaller gudgeon.

We usually left the other basin to a more experienced angler – Mr. Bickley.  He used a spot about two thirds of the way towards the main canal and usually caught similar fish to us, though perhaps more of them. He always had time for a chat, and considering that we were just bits of kids, we had a great deal of respect for him.  Then one day it happened – Mr. Bickley caught a tench – not a monster as far as tench go but for our small basins it definitely had the X factor.  Of course, after this, our respect for him knew no bounds – he was our hero.

The view today follows:

To get to our fishing spot and general play area of our childhood we would walk to the left of the Regent Cinema, past the back of it – hence our name for the area ‘the back o’ the flicks’ also known as ‘the batters’ – across the brook and up onto ‘our’ field.  This was our football pitch, cricket pitch, a very unsuccessful tennis court and cycle speedway track.The whole area had been our cowboys and indians and hide and seek territory before sport took over our lives.  To get to the canal basins we would walk over ‘our’ field through the fallen railway fence and across the track.Occasionally there would be a rake of empty coal wagons in the siding, and that did make it difficult to get to the basins to fish.  We seldom travelled light so we had to get rods, nets and baskets under the couplings – not so easy, but we were young enough to bend in those days.

Originally, there were four sidings at the basins, but that was before even our time. There was just the one line remaining, to the left of the original photo.All the years we played there, I don’t recall ever seeing an engine in the siding.  They must have paid a visit from time to time, to collect or deliver the wagons – obviously while we were at school!

Railway journeys have been essential for my professional responsibilities. Continuously for thirty five years, I have been traveling from North to South and from East to West in Pakistan. So I have been in contact with the Railway Ticket Window and the Ticket Checker only. What has been happening in other sections of the whole setup, can very well be assessed from what I have personally experienced and seen during my journeys. Following lines give a very very brief representative account of how paid employees on duty play havoc with their responsibilities. Permissiveness of irrelevant facilities without any degree of supervision and check, and over looking of small misappropriations in departments has encouraged boost of crimes and corruption in every molecule of the entire body of whole social setup. Some suggestions form part of the details below for authorities concerned.

The legal permissions of free private journeys for the railway employees continue to be misused. This sanctioned facility has given birth to countless off shoots which have been devouring the resources of the railway department very mercilessly. Not only the railway employees and their families but also the whole chains of their relatives, neighbors and relatives of neighbors and friends have been found to be managing for making use of this facility. A railway employee feels proud of offering even his least familiar friends to travel by train without ticket, advising “BUS MERA NAAM LE LENA.”

In 1962, I was proceeding to the Ticket Window at Rohri Railway Station, when a railway employee in uniform stopped me and asked me about where I was going. When I told him that I was going to purchase a first class ticket (Top Railway Class in that era) for Sukkur. He addressed me in these words: “Why waste money. Journey is short. You simply pay me half of the actual cost of the ticket and I shall manage your journey till you are out of Sukkur Railway Station”. When I refused and resumed walking towards Ticket Window, he continued walking behind me with offer of further less money in the deal. I did purchase ticket but I had been very much shocked and disturbed. It might be frivolous for some readers but due to the nature of rearing and teachings at school and college by the most responsible local and foreign teachers, of my institutions, the incidence did shock me as it was first of my long journeys from Rawalpindi.

In November 1991, I boarded the train from Rawalpindi to Sialkot. I entered the 24-Seats part of the compartment. All seats were occupied. I had to keep standing. After the train moved from Chaklala, a ticket checker entered the compartment, had a glance at the seated passengers and then asked me to show ticket. I produced the ticket which he checked. To my astonishment he started moving to other compartment without checking the seated passengers. I abruptly gripped his arm and asked him to check all the passengers. With a miserable grin he said “They are relatives of my colleague, going to a marriage party”. I still reserve my ticket of that occasion.

In 1998, on sudden death of my sister in Sialkot, I had to travel from Hyderabad with a ticket without reservation in economy class. I requested the person responsible for on spot reservation to reserve me a seat, stating the reason for my journey. The man told me that he could reserve a seat for me if I could pay him some money.

In year 2000, traveling in sleeper class from Sialkot to Lahore to Hyderabad, there were two different family groups in my cabin, consisting of two men and three women. They traveled up to Lahore and the ticket checker did not even ask them to show tickets. They must have already settled affairs mutually.

Honest citizens perhaps do not know that there is another meaning of word ‘Oblige’. It is not in dictionary. This type of ‘Oblige’ means picking pocket of some unfortunate stranger to afford financial aid to a friend. Here is how I learned this from an aged railway employee in year 2004. A group of three elderly railway employees dressed in uniform, standing in economy class near my seat, had been discussing something in Punjabi language. I was alerted to a statement by one of them. The statement was “You know, I obliged him so many times but he is utterly a thankless chap.” I was aroused by abrupt urge to interrupt asking the man about the nature of obliging his friend many times. He proudly explained that he permitted and managed his friend’s railway journeys without tickets.

I have generally seen ladies with very long ‘Tusbeeh’ moving their hand and lips silently. They always travel without ticket and nobody checks them as the ticket checkers are afraid of their curse. In all fairness, these ladies must be heavily fined and charged as they deceive God as well as people.

We have poor men hesitating to attend the funeral of their nearest relatives due to lack of money for railway journey. All Pakistanis be treated impartially. The rotten custom of “Hardships to be equally shared by all, facilities for Government and the companies’ employees only” must now be abolished.

For a poor and seriously indebted country of ours, I have never been able to understand:-

A. Unlimited free private journeys, legal or managed, by railway employees including highly paid officers, whereas our poor majority postpone or cancel journeys even for very urgent reasons.

B. Free electricity to WAPDA employees including highly paid officers.

C. Free gas to gas employees consuming precious energy ruthlessly whereas poor man hesitates even genuine consumption to avoid high bills.

D. Profuse concessions in Air tickets and number of journeys for very highly paid members of government sponsored Air Lines. I have known PIA employees weekly flying to Pakistan from Saudi Arabia, simply to buy kitchen items.

This limitless permissiveness reflects that governments have never assessed the degree of poverty and helplessness of poor lot of the country and the oft repeated boisterous statements in their favor are simply because they are the casting-vote for the power chair. We have been getting foreign loans with ever increasing interests their on and still we have permitted New York facilities to civil departments.

Let us learn to live within our means. Except for the disabled and the special persons, no free of cost facility should be permitted to anybody, who so ever. Government, semi government and even purely private bodies must see that nobody gets anything free of cost, so that every penny is accumulated for the benefits of the poors. This will definitely result in the following:-

1- A lesson to live within our own means.
2- Equal treatment for all citizens.
3- Funds for better maintenance of Railway, PIA, WAPDA and Gas companies.
4- A lesson going deep to minds to avail of a facility only on payment of cost.

Written by: Geodetic Engr. Muhammad Ashraf

_

Eastern & Oriental Express

When I visited Bangkok’s Hua Lamphong Railway Station on Tuesday afternoon I was lucky to see the Eastern & Oriental Express preparing for departure.

This train was due to leave at 15:00 and travel overnight to Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand. The train looks absolutely splendid in its green, cream and gold colours. Such a contrast from the worn rolling stock the state-owned railway has to use.

I remembered Michael Willem’s advice here and under-exposed for the back light on the platform. It’s not as dramatic as his example, but I think it works photographically.

Each entrance was guarded by a uniformed security officer. I didn’t have the cheek to ask if I could take a look around the interior.

According to the E&O web site this is the last departure to Chiang Mai in 2009. The fares are eye-watering: US$1,400 for a “Pullman Superior / Single”, US$1,890 for a “State Cabin” and US$2,500 for the “Presidential Suite”. The site says that:

Prices are per person based on sharing accommodation and include: All table d’hôte meals on board, with complimentary tea and coffee in your compartment, and sightseeing tours.

Table d’hôte is a hi-so phrase for a fixed menu.

Since it is an overnight train passengers miss most of the scenery. The sun sets about 6:30pm at this time of the year. I don’t think the Bangkok Frugal Photographer will be taking this train any time soon.

According to the State Railway of Thailand web site here the regular train fares from Bangkok to Chiang Mai are: 593 Baht First Class, 281 Baht Second Class and 121 Baht Third Class. According to the online currency converter at Oanda.com thats US$17.91, 8.49 and 3.65 respectively. But you do have to bring your own food.

Note: there are supplements for sleeper accommodation in First and Second Class that I have not included here.

The SRT makes huge losses and safety is a challenge, but the difference is immense.

I wish I had waited to see how many passengers boarded the train.

Note that the SRT could not provide a posh engine for the journey. It was a regular 34 year old Alstholm ALS diesel locomotive.

 Wenn in Augsburg von Architektur die Rede ist, haben fast alle den Namen Elias Holl (1573-1646) parat, der als Sohn von Hans Holl (1512-1594) und Stadtbaumeister mit dem Rathaus, dem Zeughaus und einigen Stadttoren das Erscheinungsbild der Stadt geprägt hat. Doch es gibt zahlreiche andere Architekten jüngeren Datums die das Erscheinungsbild der Stadt nicht minder geprägt haben, einer breiteren Öffentlichkeit aber zumindest namentlich nicht geläufig sind. Beispielsweise Stadtbauräte wie Franz Josef Kollmann (1800-1894), dessen in neogotischer Linie errichtetes Hauptwerk als ehemaliges Hauptkrankenhaus vielen Augsburgern zumindest noch bekannt ist oder Ludwig Leybold (1833-1891), Stadtbaurat ab 1866, dessen zahlreiche Privatbauten im Bereich zwischen Hauptbahnhof und Altstadt ein ganzes Stadtviertel prägten. Ganz eigentümliche Farbtupfer verdankt die Stadt jedoch den Architekten Georg Gollwitzer 1810-1890 und seinem kreativen Sohn Karl Albert Gollwitzer 1839-1917, die weltmännisches Flair und Denken an den Lech brachten.

Das erste Bauwerk des aus dem oberpfälzischen Altenhammer stammenden Georg Gollwitzer in Augsburg ist der bis 1840 errichtete alte Bahnhof der Stadt unweit der Freilichtbühne, der heute als verstecktes Straßenbahndepot ein eher unscheinbares Dasein führt. Das freilich ist neben der aktuellen Nutzung, unberechtigt, gilt das Bauwerk doch als das älteste noch existierende Bahnhofsgebäude der Welt und Endpunkt der ersten Überlandbahn in Bayern. Die von München nach Augsburg ab 1838 in vier Abschnitten wurde von der im Jahr zuvor gegründeten München-Augsburger Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft errichtet, zu deren Aktionären auch die Augsburger Bankiers der Obermayer gehörten. 1841 war Gollwitzer am Umbau des Alten Stadttheaters am Lauterlech beteiligt, dessen Anfänge in das Jahr 1665 zurückreichen. Weitere Werke Gollwitzers in Augsburg waren die Lotzbecksche Tabakfabrik, auf dessen Areal sich nach einigen Umbauten seit 1930 der Augsburger Stadtmarkt befindet, während im Frontgebäude zur Fuggerstraße hin das Augsburger Stadtarchiv beheimatet ist. Um 1850 entstand die Kammgarnspinnerei, das Stadtbachquartier um 1861. 1864 übergab Gollwitzer die Geschäfte der Firma seinem am 17.12.1839 geborenen Sohn Karl Albert Gollwitzer. Bekannt geworden sind in Augsburg zahlreiche Häuserensembles mit Risaliten und minarettartigen Türmen im maurisch-orientalischen Stil, der sich um die Wende zum 20. Jahrhundert allergrößter Beliebtheit erfreut während man heute darüber streitet ob ein Minarett ins Stadtbild passend könnte. Nur wenige dieser Häuser sind in der Volkhartstr. Unweit des Stadttheaters erhalten geblieben. In Vergessenheit geraten hingegen ist Gollwitzers Kurhotel Waldkuralpe Nervenheil ( http://www.nervenheil.de/ ), während sein nie realisierter Plan Augsburg am Oblatter Wall einen Industriehafen zu bauen, der über Kanäle Anschluss an Main und Donau erhalten sollte, ein kühne Gedankenspiel bleib.

Der Geburtstag des Vaters Georg Gollwitzers jährt sich am 26. November zum 199. Mal und vielleicht ist dies anderen ein Anreiz des 200. Geburtstag im Jahre 2010 ausführlicher zu gedenken.

Usually architecture in Augsburg is associated with Elias Holl (1573-1646) the Stadtbaumeister who was architect of Augsburg’s most distinctive landmarks, the city hall and Perlach tower. But there are some other architects who shaped the appearance of the City. Among them are father and son Gollwitzer. George Gollwitzer whose 199th birthday we want to commemorate, is the architect of the oldest surviving train station building in the world, while a former tobacco factory in the heart of the city now is the setting for the city market and the cities archive as well. His son Karl Georg however left some remarkable buildings in Moorish style with minarets – towers which were very popular at the turn of the 20th century while today little minds argue whether a single tower may fit into the view of the city or urban image. Unfortunately only few of these ensembles survived in Augsburg. Gollwitzer spa and health resort “Nervenheil” however did not, while his bold plan to build an industrial harbor next to the old city never was realized.

*Jakarta Globe, 25 November 2009

Strangers. The word tends to have an ominous cloud hanging over it. But in the beginning, everyone is a stranger, an unknown quantity — even the people who become our friends.

As a journalist, chatting to random people comes with the job. It’s a prerequisite, in fact.

The other day, I struck up a conversation with two middle-aged men watching a salsa class in San Francisco. They were from Guatemala. After conversing about dancing and being immigrants, the portlier of the pair said, “You’re very open. Most women here don’t normally speak to strange men.” What a pity, I thought, because those women missed out on meeting these two who, with twinkles in their eyes, taught me a little about their country.

I like strangers. They are a novelty with their different points of view and stories.

But like the Guatemalan said, trust in this day and age is hard to come by. After all, if colleagues can backstab you, friends betray you and spouses more likely than not cheat on you, then who’s to say the strangers you befriend aren’t liable to harm you?

Traveling in unfamiliar territory, everyone I meet is a stranger — a possible threat or friend. So as a solo traveler, I try to be more cautious. But on any journey, nothing quite goes as intended. In my experience, strangers have enhanced my travels and, more often than not, come to my rescue.

As a foolish youth driving solo across England and Ireland, I managed to get my car wedged in a ditch. There, surrounded by dense fog, past midnight, in the countryside somewhere between Dublin and Galway, I sat in the dark waiting for help. Eventually, I flagged down two men on their way home from the pub. Unfortunately, due to the substantial amount of Guinness in their system, their car ended up in the same ditch as mine. It was only after the pub closed and the rest of the inebriated villagers came our way that we were saved.

This time my story began when a 5,000-pound steel cable snapped off the San Francisco Bay Bridge, causing it to close for a few days. Due to the bridge closure, Amtrak canceled its buses, which I needed to connect to a southbound train, leaving me stranded in the city. Amtrak did leave a note on the bus stop sign. Catch the train in San Jose, it read. Nothing else.

I went to the local subway station to find a train bound for San Jose. A kind attendant informed me that the southbound Amtrak would leave the next morning. “Do you have a place to sleep tonight?” he said. At the train station, naturally. Unfortunately, the stations close at night, was his reply.

Lack of lodgings was the least of my worries. My mission was to catch my train to San Diego. The route I had to take was simple: a Bay Area Rapid Transit train from San Francisco to Millbrae followed by a Caltrain to San Jose where I was to wait for an Amtrak bus to Santa Barbara, and finally a train to San Diego.

Zipping down to Millbrae, I was slightly apprehensive. Was San Jose the right place to catch up with my wayward Amtrak transportation? Midnight was closing in fast. I turned to the elderly couple behind me and asked if they knew where I could catch the Amtrak train to San Diego. Their names were Bill and Rosanne, and they were on their way home from watching the musical “Wicked” in San Francisco. There were no trains till tomorrow. Again came the question: “Do you have a place to sleep tonight?” “No,” I replied.

Before alighting in Millbrae, Bill turned and said, “You can sleep on our couch tonight.” And with those words, the kind pair saved me from spending the night outside of the San Jose station.

So I hopped into their car and we drove to their home in Belmont. It was a quaint old house with a porch, the random passing deer or raccoon in their yard, a kitchen with flowery wallpaper and a brown-and-white Papillon dog called Mickey.

When Bill discovered my budding love for riding long-distance trains, he took me to his basement. On a wall a sticker read: “My wife says if I buy one more train she’ll leave me. Gee, I’ll miss her.” Bill is a railway aficionado.

He had spent the last 41 years turning the basement into a miniature country of undulating mountain peaks, canyons, clouds and cities connected by railways tracks and trains of all shapes and colors. We talked of trains till well past the witching hour.

It wasn’t until I was snugly settled on their couch that a thought crossed my mind — what if they were a couple of elderly serial killers? Laughable misgivings that dawned too late and completely unwarranted for the kind couple shepherded me onto a train headed for San Jose the next morning.

A friend of mine once asked what it feels like to befriend strangers. I had answered: happy. Looking back, I’ve changed my mind. My answer now? Grateful.

CS PURAM- GEETA
Our neighbour was a driver in KSRTC, living in rented house.
His daughter Geeta was a dark, tall, slim girl, working in a shop at Palakad town. She has a younger brother, still in school when, we were there.
An offer came for her hand. The boy is handsome. His parents are well to do, both getting pension, in addition to their savings, a house in Thiruvanthapuram etc. They have only this son whom they want to entrust to a reliable loving girl.
At that point we had to go to Delhi. On our return, we brought Ammu, Sudha’s daughter Meghna, who was only two years old, as there was nobody to look after her, when the parents went to work.
 There was no such decision. We were inside the railway compartment. Damodaran and Sudha were on the platform. When my wife stretched her hands and called Ammu, she jumped into her hands; the train moved. So that was how she came in  our custody. As some wit put it, we bring babies into this world, jus to play with them!
I used to take her wherever I went, in the village. She never showed any sign of remembering her parents; but, when Damodaran and Sudha got into the autorickshaw on their return, after a brief vacation with us in the village, she went away with them, without once turning bach to look at us! My wife was on the point of tears.
One day Geeta came from Thiruvananthapuram. She looked serious. Her man was a spoilt child. After break fast, he goes away with his friends to roam about in the city. At noon, he comes back, takes rest and again, in the evening another outing, returning home after dinner in the restaurants.
Three times, she has to wash his cloths. Always, he goes in clean ironed cloths. Geeta is his washer woman.
An itching caused a nuisance to me. Nothing was visible. Thuppan told me it is caused by small mice. After observing my abdomen he confirmed it.
I went to a doctor, who gave me a medicine to be applied all over my body, for seveal days. No relief came except when it is applied.
Then I poured kerosine oil all over my body. My body became clean. I became fair, but the mice thrived.
Murugan told it comes from the river water. Several persons are victims, not myself alone. It was little consolation.
In March 2000, we came to see Leena’s baby and could not go back to CS Puram, as there was nobody to help her. My mice disappeared, without any reason. I was very much releaved.
The baby born on the auspicious day, when Ammathiruvady is brought to our ancestral home, on Makam of the month of Meenam,every year, was named Ananya.
Premchand, Leena’s father-in-law was also there. They stayed at their son Shishir’s house at Lajpatnagar, quite near to our place, and he woud come to see Ananya daily.
He was younger to me, very jolly, but suffering from diabetes and heart  trouble. Doctors at  AIIMS had recommended biopsy. I think a ring was inserted already.
At his instance I too joined the Yoga course, for ten days, provided by  the AIIMS, free of cost.
Of course, the classes were good, but of no use, unless we continue the practice during our life time. This is not practicable. A proper study to determine the efficacy of the system, I believe, has not been conducted. The pulse rate comes down. That is because we remain in a detached atmosphere, free from normal tensions. The same experience can be had, when we pray at a temple or  church etc.
In the library attached to the Yoga cell, I came across a remarkable book titled POWER HEALING by Dr. Leo Galland. He is a normal allopathic doctor, who examines those cases, where doctors are unable to find out the root cause and fail. He has recorded a number of  strange cases. In one case, doctors treated a patient for heart attack who died after repeated attacks. His investigation revealed that, the patient died of carbon monoxide poisoning. The deceased was working in an old cellar, peeling off plaster, under which the poisonous gas had accumulated, over a long time, in some pockets. THE POISON CAUSED THE SYMPTOMS OF HEART ATTACK.
Another case was a young girl whose skin was extremely dry. She was a schizophrenic patient. Seeig her skin, the doctor told her to take cod liver oil, which contans omega 3 fatty acids. AFTER SOME SIX MONTHS, SHE RETURNED TO GIVE HIM THANKS. She was cured of her mental condition. Now this oil is given routinely to all mental patients in England, I read in the news paper.

[降價至免費] 日本の駅(Japan Railway)：日本JR、私鐵、地下鐵的路線情報，降價至免費。

itunes link

**其實我一直很刻意的在蒐集日本旅遊所需的app，像是逛街情報、比價購物、交通路線、旅遊會話這些。因為，我相信，有一天，我一定，用、的、上！（淚目+握拳）