Movie Review

Aliens

Whilst away in India I managed to watch what I think is the best of the four Alien movies, and that is Aliens. Alien, the first movie was pretty good, with plenty of Atmosphere, number 3 was just pants, and 4 (resurrection) was so ridiculous it was hardly worth the money to remake it. Yes indeed Aliens was the best of the lot, and here is why.

Set 57 years after Warrent Officer Ellen Ripley blew the alien that destroyed her entire crew, she is awakened from a hyper-sleep to discover her worst fears, LV-426 the planet where she first discovered the Alien spaceship has been colonised. Worse still she is stripped of her rank, and flying license and sacked from the company. But when all contact is lost from the planet, the company want her back as a consultant to a bunch of space marines, Ripley agrees as long as they are going to wipe the aliens out, but the company has other ideas...

Who will win the battle the Aliens or the Marines? No contest really, especially when the Marines are been led by an inexperienced and inept lieutenant.

Ripley and the Gang

Aliens is the type of film that leaves you hoping for a sequel, and hoping that the sequel will be just as good, but like most films that have more than 2 in their arsenal, the third and 4th films are a total load of crap!

The battle scenes in Aliens are pretty believable and well acted throughout, and Carrie Henn, who plays Newt is a very accomplished young actress. There is also humour in the film, such as my favourite when Hudson says "Hey, Vasquez have you ever been mistaken for a man?", to which she responds "No!, ........Have you?"

There is not all that much blood and guts at all in the film, as it relies on the tension and 'mind games' as the first Alien did. The music sets the tone perfectly, and the dark lighting produces the atmosphere of a foreboding planet, that has yet to be made fully habitable.

Probably the most used image of the film

The special effects in the film, are pretty good too, and although the film was made in 1986, some of the effects are pretty visual, and you're left wondering as to how they could create that image on the screen. Indeed the film won the Oscar for it's visual effects, it also won an Oscar for the sound effects editing.

One of the effects that still has me wondering how it was done is when Bishop, the artificial lifeform has been ripped in two, by the Alien Queen, and is pulled toward the airlock hatch, with pipes and cables spewing out his guts. Truly amazing.

Bishop you have a lot of Guts!

Weeks after the film had finished there were still teenage girls all over the country, saying the immortal line "Get away from her, you BITCH!!", when her friends were in trouble.

It is such a shame that parts 3 and 4 had nothing going for them whatsoever, that very fact has ruined any chance of another Alien film been made, although a prequel may not be a bad idea!

Starring;

Sigourney Weaver, Carrie Henn, Lance Henriksen, Michael Biehn

Certificate; 18

Weekly Question

Just what is a Blog?

There are according to Technorati over 52 million, yes that is 52 million blogs worldwide at the moment, and that number is only the number of blogs that are tracked by one tracking service there maybe a lot more.
As Radio 5Live are celebrating "International Blog Day" today, I thought I would ask the question, just what is a Blog? Now this could take some time, to answer but hopefully you will bear with me, and enter your comments and even your links for your own Blogs.

As I have said BBC Radio 5Live are celebrating International Blog Day, where by they would like everyone with a Blog to link to 5 other blogs, that are very different and diverse from their own, also from different countries and cultures ( more info here 5Live ). So I have started off by adding a couple of links, and will add 3 more later today.

Nicky Cambell & Shelagh Fogarty

Radio 5Live are also asking for people to recommend their blogs so that 5Live website can link to them.

But what is a Blog?

Well according to Wikipedia the definition of a blog is as follows;

A weblog, which is usually shortened to blog, is a type of website where entries are made (such as in a Personal journal or diary displayed in a reverse Chronological order.
Blogs often provide commentary or news and information on a particular subject, such as food, politics, or local news; some function as more personal Online diary. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. Most blogs are primarily textual although some focus on photographs, videos, or audio podcasting.
The word blog can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog. For a full account check here Wikipedia

OK, so now you have an Idea of where the word blog came from and what the Blog started up as, but nowadays a Blog is far more than that. A Blog is a huge source of information, information that can be accessed (and this is important) for FREE. It is a good thing for us everyday users who want to garnish some information about things we are interested in, but not so good for specialised websites that charge for that info.
So a lot of you are now bothered about reading about one persons life with their kids, and their job from 9 to 5, but just may be that person will have something in their blog that is of interest to you, it just may take a casual glance at the page, you move away to surf something else, but then something in your head registers and you hit the Back button to read some more. Reading more of the Blog you initially had no interest in means you discover a remedy to the back problem that has been bugging you for years. Then hopefully this blog has some advertising on and you see a related advert, click on it and you get just what you want.

Some people only use Blogs as they were originally intended, but big companies are now seeing the potential for Blogging, or using Blogs as an advertising medium. This leads us on to the other beauty of a Blog, it can be a little money earner for the Blogger in question. I am not talking thousands of pounds here, but a nice bit of pocket money. How is it done? Well it depends on the Blog Host, I myself use Google Adsense.

Google Adsense, puts on your Blog adverts that depend on the content of the Blog, so on this page you may see quite a few Blogging ads, and you may see one for 5Live. But as I have mentioned back pain, you may even see one for back problems. Whenever anyone but you clicks on an Ad, you get a certain amount of money. It may only be a couple of cents, but if you get enough people interested in your Blog, you will be looking at over a dollar a click. Get friends and family involved, and they could click on 5 Ads a day, upping your income quite nicely. The advertisers who have their Ads on Google, pay a nominal fee, and then only pay for each click they receive, which means an incredibly cheap way to advertise.

But Blogging isn't about making money is it? It is about sharing information, and the best way to do that is whilst on a Blog site, search for something like film blog, or DVD blog, or Pony Blog, even Dinosaur Blog, and you will have tons of Blogs to look at and a wealth of information.

Blogs are going to be an integral part of the future, they are going to allow our children help with their school projects, allow us to learn new skills, give us information we can't find anywhere else, but most of all make our lives better.

Now there is only one downside, that the system isn't foolproof at the moment, and there are still a few sites that have questionable content, but they are getting fewer.

There are over 52 million Blogs out there, and they are growing in number daily, if someone was given the task to read every blog, they would probably never finish. Blogs are great, Blogs are here to stay. So in answer to the question Just What is a Blog?

It's everything!

Football

Following the Imps

A lot of things have been going on in my life recently so I have been unable to keep on top of things such as the Imp reports, hopefully that will be sorted out in a few weeks time, and then I will be able to deliver my typically biased reports on the Imps.

So just for the record here are the results that I have missed out on.


Hereford 1                  Imps 2
Purdie 77(pen)              Stallard 11,29

att. 4405

Torquay 1                  Imps 2
Garner 52                  Morgan 92
                                  Gritton 95

att. 3192

Imps 2                  Walsall 2
Kerr 12                  Taylor 79
Frecklington 22     Fangueiro 93

att. 4565

Scunthorpe 4                     Imps 3                  (League Cup Rnd 1)
Torpey 7                               Stallard 69
Mulligan 58                         Frecklington 80
Paul 111                                Beevers 92
Baraclough 112

after extra time

att. 3455


Mansfield 2                  Imps 4
Reet 66                  Forrester 15(pen),23,29,49(pen)
Barker 90

Barker missed penalty

att. 4596


OK we are out of the cup, but we are now 5th in the league! Wahooo!

Requests

A little Town called Corby

This posting is dedicated to Lady Luck, as she has asked for a little description about the place I live. So for everyone else below is a description of Corby, Northamptonshire, in all it's glory. It is not a bad place to live at all, it's just got a bad reputation.

I moved to Corby in November 2002, and had repeated warnings from people who didn't live there that it was a rough area and advising me not to go. Well after only two days of moving into the area where we are (only 23 houses there!), we received "Welcome to your New Home", cards from everyone on the estate and a bottle of wine and box of choccies...Hummm definitely a rough area!
The house I live in is an experimental home, that was built on the site of an old land fill, and was built in 1976, still no subsidence or problems have been encountered so the experiment has worked. Our house also features blow air heating, which is great, no radiators means more space and the option of air conditioning in the summer is a definite bonus.
It is also very quite where we are, although they are building a huge development behind us, it has not affected us so far.

So to Corby itself, well it is pretty well known for it's steelworks, which closed sometime ago. It also has a massive Scottish population, ad that adds to the friendliness of the town. In 6 years of living in Grantham we hardly knew anyone and rarely spoke to the neighbours. In four years of living in Corby, the wife has a nice circle of close friends, has a shedload of clubs and support groups to go to, and most importantly of all has a stack of facilities for the young kids to enjoy.

I am an active member of the fathers group, where dad's can go with their kids on a Sunday for a few hours and do all sorts of activities, whilst mum has a rest at home, run by Sure Start it's probably the best and only thing this government has got right.

The thing that spoils Corby is the town centre, it is outdated and a typical new town style, but that is been revamped and millions is being spent on it. We also have a nice boating lake, and park, where the annual FREE firework display is held.

Corby is attracting a wide range of nationalities too, as well as the predominantly Scottish contingent there is also a large East European contingent too. But, the beauty of it is most (I did say most) people get on well, and there it is extremely friendly feeling.

Downside is there isn't a lot to do of an evening, and there are a few rough areas (but isn't there everywhere?), things are changing though, and I fully believe that Corby will be a magnet for commuters in the future.
Cheap housing, cheap public transport, and so many friendly people it is going places.

Unfortunately, I am not going to be able to stay for much longer. Sadly my wife and I are separating, so I will have to find somewhere else to live. If I can get somewhere even half as friendly and open as Corby, it will at least allow some of the pain I feel to ease.

Weekly Question

Are we too soft on Kids?

It's a pretty well known fact that nowadays kids seem to get away with just about everything they want to. The lack of discipline in children is plain to see, but just who is to blame for this? Society? Parents? The Government???
Well how about all three...

I fully believe that the root of all the problems now in society with troubled teens, and increasingly younger kids giving lip and staying out late lies with society itself, the parents and the government.

Lets look at the problems of late, all of which make the news, such as the Hoodies culture, are these the total yobs that everyone is led to believe? I don't think half of them are. It is just a case that the media has given the impression that the Hoodie is part of the yob culture. Most Hoodies are probably teens that have been embroiled in a fashion statement, and it's also a good way of hiding teenage acne amongst boys. Granted the Hoodie has been involved in lots of crimes, and they wear the had so CCTV cannot identify them, but those are rare cases.

What worries me now is the amount of gangs, and kids carrying knives. This is the real problem, and none of that is been tackled by the government, or the parents of some of these children. It's all very well saying "I need it for protection", but why carry it if you have no intention of using it? The thing is you can always use a knife without intending to, and someone can wind up injured or worse DEAD, no knife, no injuries, and someone still stays alive.
A knife amnesty will not work, but what will? Well how about making these teens feel safer on the streets? How about clearing up the run down areas? How about putting more police on the beat? The government won't do that as it will cost them too much, instead they go for the cheapest option, but what about the murderer who needs to dispose of the weapon...? Oh knife amnesty, easy, one murder unsolved, one murderer walking free.

Another of my biggest concerns are the 7 and 8 year old kids, walking our streets, smoking, and causing havoc, they get taken back to their parents and the parents are either terrified of them, or just can't be bothered with them. Why are they like it though? Well one of my thoughts for it is the lack of discipline in the schools. When I was at primary school, we used to get the belt if we misbehaved too much, and we were more disciplined, we did as teachers said because there was a kind of fear there. It was that unspoken fear and respect (and that is the key - respect), that gave us the discipline that we needed. Now the teachers of some schools cant even give lines, detentions have to be booked in advance, and there is absolutely no physical punishment allowed at all.
It's no wonder kids behave like they do.

I mentioned it briefly in another paragraph, but lets take the parents. Now I will hold up my hands and say that I have smacked my kids in the past when they have been naughty, and I have only done it when I knew talking would not help, especially in situations that could be dangerous. Simply because if you associate pain with something that you have done, there is a tendency that you won't do it again. But most of the time I just talk in a reasonable voice to them, and treat them with respect. Respect earns respect, so it is best to start early, and if you give your child respect in the home, they will more than likely treat others with a similar respect.

So are we to soft on our kids?

Well I think that in many ways we are, kids have everything they want nowadays, mobile phones, computers, iPods, Playstations, etc. But are they grateful for the material things?? Not really, we do treat our kids to softly we allow them to do what they want, when they want. If we want the future kids to be free from anarchy, and law abiding citizens, we have to put changes in place now. It's not only the parents that have to help their own kids, treat them with respect, and punish them when they have done wrong. But most importantly it is up to the government to do something, about the society that the kids are growing up in.

Personally, with the current government, I don't hold out much hope.

Travel - India Pt.2

Travel - India part 2

So on from the flight to Calcutta, and after that the trip by train to the small town of Chaibasa, and the creatures that I had to share my bedroom with.
This is part 2 of the trip to India and it will start from where part 1 left off. Calcutta.


Calcutta Airport

It's not just Chaos in the UK

We arrived in Calcutta, around 3 hours before the train was due to leave, which meant that we had roughly 2 hours to waste before we had to get the taxi for the train. So it was basically a case for reading before the taxi ride.

Thrill Ride

A quite day on the streets of Calcutta!

Forget bungee jumping, parachute jumping, rock climbing, and abseiling 100ft cliffs. If you truly want a thrill ride where your heart is in your mouth 99% of the time, then get in a taxi and take a ride from the airport to the railway station. I guarantee that you will experience the most frightening, nail biting ride of your life. It will last just 45 minutes, but will seem to last a lifetime. No seatbelts. Windows down cause there is no handle to wind them up, 80% of the other drivers driving with no lights on, and you will be cacking yourself every 10 seconds.

If you see a car with no dents in, it is either brand new, or has never been out of the garage. But, it is not only your taxi that gives the thrills, it's the other taxis, cars, taxi bikes, normal bikes, pedestrians, carts, dogs, cows, and all other manner of truck that will have you gasping.

Train rides and Migraines

I had now been going since 5pm Saturday, and it was now 7:25 Sunday UK time. So I was looking forward to at least a few hours kip on during the 51/2 hour train journey to the next part of the trip. Unfortunately, tiredness and a migraine had something to say about that, after taking a couple of tablets, I was just drifting off, or must have drifted off, when... Keyur was shaking me awake, informing me it was our stop. Oh Bugger! 04:30 in the morning, and I had to get up and off the train.

I dragged myself out of the pit, and then got my things together, and got off the train to the car that was waiting, surprisingly, it was a guy that met us the last time I made the trip. At around 6am, I got to the guesthouse and at 06:30 I was dead to the world, and even an earthquake measuring 8.6 on the Richter scale wouldn't have woken me.

The job, when I went in to work at 2:30 pm was finished in 1/2 a hour. THIRTY SEVEN hours of travel for a half hour job...Bloody Marvelous!

A Glimpse of the Room

I did India a bit of a disservice in the past, but it is the getting there that was the problem, but the room I was staying was pretty comfortable and roomy, it was also devoid of mosquito's, the reason why it was devoid of mossies was this

But I didn't just have one of these lovely little lizards in the room, I had THREE!

One other thing I should mention about the en-suite, which I soon discovered was the norm throughout India, and that was the shower location. See if you can see it in the picture below.

I'll give you a clue, have a look at the water heater where the blue band is.. Hummmm, funny thing is I did have a shower everyday!

The Journey Home

Not a lot happened on the way back, apart from the fact that the plane leaving Delhi to the UK left 4 hours late! It may have got back to Heathrow 3 hours late, and I got home just after midnight, but I still ad the memory fresh in my mind of a certain railway station, and a certain goat who thought benches were just right for them.

Until the next time

Travel

Travel - India

Hello again, yes I am back in the UK, and am now at my mums updating this Blog. But I think I am going to need a little bit longer than just a week as a holiday, after a week like the one I have just had, one of the least pleasant trips I undertake started from a bit of a nightmare travelling to Heathrow.


I left my house at 5pm on 12th August knowing full well that there were still strict security measures taking place at Heathrow. I left at 5 because my flight was supposed to be at 21:55 (9:55pm), and this would have given me around 3 hours to check in and get through customs.
But, the M4 spur was a nightmare, it hadn?t taken me and Jake the taxi driver long to get to the turn off, but that is when the problems started. Traffic was heaving, and from making it to the turn off, with the Terminal only 8 miles away, we were getting anxious about making it. Finally, at 8:25pm Jake managed to drop me off, and I wandered over to Terminal 3 expecting the worst, what I got was worse than the worst.

The Terminal was choc-a-block with people, I got in my queue and waited, and then someone asked if anyone was flying to Delhi, straight away I said I was, and was ushered to the front of the queue under ominous looks from others who had clearly been waiting a lot longer than me. So to the pre-boarding gate where they check your hand luggage (which was a laugh as all I had was a plastic bag), the queue here stretched for a good 300m, even before you got to the Disney style zigzag queue system.
One passenger objected verbally that a Pakistani family were allowed in the queue in front of him, to which the official (herself a Pakistani) replied their flight was at 9:45 and they had preference. The gentleman stated (with a raised voice but not abusive) that his families flight was at 9:35pm. To which the official lost it and shouted at the gentleman ?DO you realise how much STRESS we are in, why cant you just wait there like everyone else, you really do have no idea!!?, sorry dear but you have no idea, you cannot in your position lose it like that. She never even said sorry, just looked at him with sheer contempt, hopefully she will be disciplined for it, and if I was the guy in question I would DEFINITELY put in a complaint.

Just after 10.10pm I made it to the x-ray machine. Off with the shoes and belt and through the scanner, and then a pat down before the contents of my plastic bag was checked.
Out came a pen, a memory stick, and a pack of chewing gum, which had been opened. ?You can?t take them on? said the customs official. ?But I need the memory stick for my job?, said I. ?Then you have three choices, 1) Go back to check in and check it in as hold luggage. 2) We will keep it here, and then you pay £7 to get it back on your return. 3) The bin. ?The Bin? I answered and I waved goodbye to a memory stick containing not only work, but a few images of some rather nice looking ladies (if you know what I mean ;)). But throwing the gum?????



Potential Bomb Making Equipment ?? HA!

Finally after a two hour delay I managed to get on the flight and was on my way to India.

I arrived in Delhi and met up with Keyur, now the thing is the security restrictions involved with the UK, are pretty much in force in Delhi too.
I thought I would get away with my hand luggage, but no, I had to recheck it in as it had shaving gel, deodrant, after shave and toothpaste in. So, back to check in which was luckily quite empty, checked in the hand luggage, and then back through customs, to the flight, with my trusty plastic bag containing my travel documents.

Onto the flight then, and onto the next leg of the journey, Calcutta. Which you can read about in my next posting.

Newsflash 2!!!!

On my way home at last

Well, India is finished and I am now on my way home, so hopefully there will be a nice big posting about my time here soon, including pictures of frightning lizards, accounts of frightning taxi rides, and of frightning showers!
By the way security in India is just as bad as the UK, so I haven't escaped that yet.

Have a nice day people will post soon!

NEWSFLASH!!

Updates will be delayed - Sorry

Just to let you know dear readers that I wont be able to update the site for a while. I am on my way to India for some work. Have had a REAL MARE! at Heathrow which I will post about on my return. Left my house at 5pm Saturday (UK time), it is now 3pm UK time Sunday, I am in Calcutta, and have another 16 hours of travel ahead of me.......lovely!

Seriously, though it isn't just Heathrow that are not allowing hand luggage, I had tiolettries in my bag, from Delhi to Calcutta but couldn't take them on the flight! Funnily enough they allowed mobiles on??? Go figure.

More on my return, that is of course if my mum lets me use her computer, as I am going to hers in Cornwall for a week on my return! Boy will I need it.
Cheerio till then.

Weekly Question

The Future of Entertainment

We all take DVD for granted these days, most of have at least one DVD player in our homes, and most of us are building up a healthy DVD collection. But with advances in technology becoming so rapid, and that technology becoming cheaper by the day, what does the future hold for the DVD? Indeed what does the future hold for all our entertainment media?


When DVD was first released people said that it could never take over from VHS, as VHS was too established, and people would not want to spend the money on updating their collections. But with the huge amount of piracy, cheaper DVD's & players, downloading and saving to DVD, all possible VHS has virtually been replaced by the DVD. It's not only the VHS that has been replaced, look at MP3 music files, the iPod and CD's. The music industry has probably been hardest hit with the advent of the internet/MP3/iPod revolution, as fewer CD's are been sold than ever before. Giving rise to millions of people breaking the law by downloading music albums from illicit websites.

Pirates of the Caribbean 2 on Flash Memory???

But are we facing a future world where you download your films and music from the net, to watch on your media centre PC's, is HD-DVD going to be the new format to wipe out the current DVD format, will Blue Ray have a chance? Or will something else take it's place in the homes of people everywhere.

Imagine this as a future;

You're sitting at the airport waiting for your flight when the tannoy announcer states it will be delayed for 3 hours. So you have time to watch a movie. So out comes your Flash Media card player from your jacket pocket, it's only the size of a pack of cards after all. You then unfold from your other pocket something resembling a plasticky cloth, you pull it tight so it locks into place, with it's soft-hard-soft properties. You place it on the empty seat next to you, and then plug it in via the attached cord to the card reader. You then take out of your other pocket a small holder that has a number of flash cards in, looking at the titles you choose a classic "Pirates of the Caribbean 2", slot it into the cardreader, and the film starts straight away.

Sound like science fiction???

Well Flash cards now come in 4Gb sizes, and it wont be long before they are 8Gb. There has been some work that involves stitching tiny LED's into clothing, so the technology for a cloth like screen is there. Brings it closer to Science fact.

What about then using the same card reader to allow you to play MP3 (or a higher quality format) music on the same card reading device? It's just a case of software for that, so that is dead easy too.

I cannot see that the future lies with internet downloads, due to the bandwidths involved.

Of course for this to happen, there will have to be some sort of security encryption on the cards themselves, but not necessarily region coding. I mean why bother, far better to have the cardfilms available anywhere, so they can be bought anywhere, than have them only work in certain regions. You may have to make the cards slightly different in size/thickness to normal cards, and NOT sell blanks of them, so that they cannot be copied.

The iPod has a small screen inbuilt to it, that is capable of displaying video, we have video conferencing watches now, so in theory it is possible to create a fold-away LCD screen.

The thing is the electronic company giants have to get in quick, to be the first, and establish themselves in the market.

The future of home/away/on the move entertainment is Very,Very bright, it is also very small!

Current Affairs

The UK shuts Down

Stanstead this morning (10/8/06)

A terrorist plot to blow up planes in mid-flight from the UK to the US has been disrupted, Scotland Yard has said.
It is thought the plan was to detonate up to three explosive devices smuggled on aircraft in hand luggage.
Police have arrested about 18 people in the London area after an anti-terrorist operation lasting several months.

Without even having to lift a finger, to do anything the Terrorists have in affect acheived exactly what they wanted, Chaos and Confusion, anger and frustration. They have also in effect shut down the UK, or more specifically the capitol. They have achieved more by this then they would by any bomb, they have not affected 1,000's of people but probably millions.

Every UK airport has extra security measures in place, as the UK has been placed on the highest possible security alert - CRITICAL. Which basically means that a terrorist attack is imminent.

I am due to fly out of Heathrow on Saturday 12th August, for India. I may make the flight I may not, it depends on what the situation is going to be in a couple of days. But at the moment it sounds pretty horrendous -

• No hand luggage allowed on any flight, unless it is essential medicines or essential items for infants such as nappies.
• Glasses are allowed, but not glasses cases, contact lens cases allowed but not their solutions.
• Babies bottles with milk in, will have to be tested by the carer of the baby to prove it is baby milk, before been allowed on the aircraft.
• No duty free allowed on aircraft that is of a liquid form, so booze and perfume are out.
• At 9:30 am some airports were suggesting there could be delays through check in of up to 5 hours.
• Lufthansa has cancelled all flights to the UK
• No flights other than those already inbound are allowed into Heathrow.
• Queues for Terminal 1 at Heathrow were 3 deep OUTSIDE the terminal at 9:00 am.
• All travellers for Heathrow have been advised to turn back and go home.

Be prepared to drink it, even if it's Breast!

So at the moment it is another 9/11, and nothing has yet occurred. It has all been based on intelligence and by God it must have been some damn good intelligence to feel the need to have the chaos it has generated.

The chaos is likely to continue for a while too, extra enforcements apply to flights to the states as these are the ones most likely to have been targetted.

But what I would like to know, is why announce the alert at 2am? Why then, when most people are in bed, and then get up and go to the airport without listening to the radio or watching the TV. There must have been so many people arriving and not knowing why they are not allowed to take Jimmy's favourite toy on the aircraft.

It is also a fault of the government not to let us know what to expect should the alert state go up. I am ex-forces so I know what sort of things to expect, but the average guy in the street doesn't have a clue. Because of this their anger and frustration has the potential for boiling over.

Yes indeed the Terrorist has achieved exactly what he wanted to, it is fantastic that nobody has so far been killed or injured, but I fully expect that as the situation continues, someone IS going to be hurt, due to the frustration of someone wnating to get on a plane. The worst scenario imaginable though is for someone to detonate a bomb in the middle of a Terminal now. Packed with travellers, going nowhere, unable to escape, if the blast doesn't kill them the ensuing panic and crush will. Result maximum casualties from minimum effort.

It is my beleif that if someone is determined enough it doesn't matter how many security measures are in place, one day, somewhere, someone will get through the net.

Movie Review

Monty Python's Life of Brian

Now this is one of my all time favourite films, banned in Ireland for 8 years, banned in Sweden, and probably banned in a lot of other places too, after all Brian was a very Naughty Boy!

The Monty Python team must have had huge fun Making this film, as I have had huge fun watching it again and again.
For those who don't know the film centres around the life of Brian, born on the same day as Jesus, but in the stable next door he is mistaken for the Messiah. But like his mum says he is just a 'very naughty boy'.
Graham Chapman takes the lead, and a few other roles to boot, with Terry Jones as his mother. You get the feel of the film right away, with the following quote;

Wise Man 1: Ahem!
Brian's Mother: Oh! [falls over in chair]
Brian's Mother: Who are you?
Wise Man 2: We are three wise men.
Brian's Mother: What?
Wise Man 1: We are three wise men.
Brian's Mother: Well, what are you doing creeping around a cow shed at two o'clock in the morning? That doesn't sound very wise to me

Classic! But it is when Brian joins the Peoples Front of Judea, when his problems really start and the hilarity is ramped up.

Set a task of writing on the city gates Romans Go Home, in Latin he is caught. But he must have been caught by a Latin teacher, as he is made to write out the correct version 100 times.
Prior to that we have the stoning ceremony, which again sends up the fanatics, and questions the role of women in the Middle East.
Still the comedy comes thick and fast, and the dialogue is just a dream. If you ask anyone what their favourite moments of the film are their answers will be vast and varying, but a lot would pick the Pontius Pilate moments, of ludicrously funny speech, Fwee Woderwick!
The speech impediment he has even makes his own centurions laugh, and if you listen carefully you can hear one of the crew giggling uncontrollably of screen.

So here in full is the transcript that caused it;

Pontius Pilate: So, yaw fatha was a Woman? Who was he?
Brian: He was a Centurion, in the Jerusalem Garrisons.
Pontius Pilate: Weally? What was his name?
Brian: 'Naughtius Maximus'.
[the Centurion laughs]
Pontius Pilate: Centuwion, do we have anyone of that name in the gawwison?
Centurion: Well, no, sir.
Pontius Pilate: Well, you sound vewy sure. Have you checked?
Centurion: Well, no, sir. Umm, I think it's a joke, sir... like, uh, 'Sillius Soddus' or... 'Biggus Dickus', sir. [guard chuckles]
Pontius Pilate: What's so funny about "Biggus Dickus? "
Centurion: Well, it's a joke name, sir.
Pontius Pilate: I have a vewy gweat fwiend in Wome called 'Biggus Dickus'. [guard chuckles] Pontius Pilate: Silence! What is all this insolence? You will find yourself in gladiator school vewy quickly with wotten behavior like that.
Brian: Can I go now, sir? [slap]
Brian: Aaah! Eh.
Pontius Pilate: Wait till Biggus Dickus hears of this! [guard chuckles]
Pontius Pilate: Wight! Take him away!
Centurion: Oh, sir, he - he only -
Pontius Pilate: No, no. I want him fighting wabid, wild animals within a week.
Centurion: Yes, sir. Come on, you. [takes the guard away as continues laughing hysterically] Pontius Pilate: I will not have my fwiends widiculed by the common soldiewy. - - Anybody else feel like a little... giggle... when I mention my fwiend... Biggus... [another guard chuckles]
Pontius Pilate: ... Dickus? [more chuckling]
Pontius Pilate: What about you? Do you find it... wisible... when I say the name... 'Biggus'... [chuckle]
Pontius Pilate: ... Dickus? [both guards chuckle]
Pontius Pilate: He has a wife, you know. You know what she's called? She's called... 'Incontinentia'... Incontinentia Buttocks

I defy anyone not to laugh at that point!

Remember I said that the film was banned in a number of places because they thought the film was blasphemous. Sorry, but God would have loved this film, he would have recommended it to his son, and all his son's disciples.

Having said that the film isn't perfect, I mean what is with the space ship??? But for a totally entertaining night of Tele, it's one for the collection.

Just remember, When your chewing on Lifes gristle, just give a little whistle, and "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life!"

Starring: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam
Running Time: 94 minutes
Certificate: 15

Rating: *****

Click Here for a choice of hilarious Trailers http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/monty_pythons_life_of_brian/trailers.php

Movie Review

And so to a new feature of my Blog, a movie review. Whenever, I can I will be adding a film review to the Entertainment category. So I will kick of with a nice little film I have recently seen....


V for Vendetta

Starring: Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving, Stephen Rea, Stephen Fry and John Hurt.
Rating: 15

V for Vendetta gives us a glimpse into a future that could be, if we allow things to happen without standing up for ourselves.

The film was actually based on a comic strip done during the Thatcher years and center's around an anti hero in the shape of V, played brilliantly by Hugo Weaving.
When Evey Hammond (Portman) finds herself out after Curfew, she is stopped by the Finger Police, and is about to become their entertainment for the night, when a shadowy figure, sporting a Guy Fawkes mask turns up to save her.
Taking her back to his hide-away, Evey is forced to stay with him, but gradually learns through him about the corrupt and controlling Chancellor (John Hurt) of the country, and how V hopes to do what Guy Fawkes failed to, blow up the houses of parliament.

You have to listen carefully to the dialogue of V, as he speaks with such poetry, etiquette, and downright British Stiff-Upper Lippishness, it makes you smile and think "He's not for real!"
But for real he is, and a lot of people find out just how real those knives that he carries are. Caught up in it all are Inspector Finch ( Rea), a hardened cop who is beginning to question the governments iron hard rule, albeit on the quiet. With a TV man Dietrich (Fry) giving Evey a place to hide when she gets into a spot of bother, the plot thickens, and the humour goes up one notch.
It's a clever film, in that the Anti-hero gains a huge following, and the people start ignoring the dreadful Chancellors propaganda machine. In some respects this film is a portrayal of Hitler (Dictator from Humble beginnings rises to power, and rules without care for anyone).

Halfway through the film you get to see the real reason why V is doing what he or even she is doing what he/she is doing, and it is pleasing to see that is is down to the greatest of all human emotions Love. Evey is then captured and put through a harrowing ordeal, before she too can see the reason for V's obsession.

Evey gets a Haircut

Performances throughout the film are excellent, although you never get to see Hugo Weaving. I would love there to be a sequel, and it is not totally out of the question.

V gives you twists, intrigue, Humour and action, the fight scenes are well made and there isn't really any annoyingly slow bits to the film. It takes all the problems of today grabs them by the balls and chucks them out a tenth story window.

Watch it and enjoy.

Check out the trailer here V for Vendetta

RATING: *****

Sport

Following the Imps - Imps 1 Magpies 1

Finally the day that all football fans have been waiting for, the start of the footy season had arrived. All across the country fans would be travelling to their respective clubs to watch their respective teams play in the country of the birth of football. But for me, I don't get to go anymore, distance other commitments and cost has meant that I can no longer follow my beloved Lincoln City. So here is a report, as usual completely biased based on their opening game against Snotts I mean Notts County.


The first thing I have always wondered was, why is Notts County not short for Nottingham County, whereas Notts Forest is short for Nottingham Forest?? Oh well on with the game.
A balmy Saturday afternoon and a decent crowd greated the players as they ran onto the pitch. Three debutaunts for the Imps in the shape of Aide Moses, Mark Stallard and Ryan Amoo,
The Magpies kicked off, but it was City who almost took the lead within 90 seconds, Lee Freklington finding space, and slotting the ball across to Amoo, who unfortunately blazed over from just 6 yards. Banjo and Barn door came to mind hey ho!
Then disaster, striker Danny Bacon received a nasty cut above his eye, and had to go off for treatment, the Imps were down to 10 men and there wasn't even 10 minutes on the clock. But they didn't show the disadvantage, as seconds after going off Amoo headed a Jeff Hughes cross just over the bar. then Scott Kerr had his shot well saved from County keeper Kevin Pilkington. Marriot took the catch from a County corner, and hoofed it upfield, where Matt Somner took out Hughes, Pilkington tipped over the resulting free kick. Corner to the Imps! Come on City roared the crowd, and come on they did. Hughes sent in a fab corner and Austin McCann had to block on the line, but the ball rolled toward Aide Moses who smashed it gleefuly into the net. His first ans City's first of the new season.

Get in There! Aide Moses makes it 1-0. Where's the ball - In the net by the post.

Lincoln were cruising now, 10 minutes gone 1-0 up, and the county players were getting a bit upset, none more so than ex-imp Jason Lee. So it came as no suprise he was booked for an elbow, his 2nd in the space of a minute. But Lincoln got on with it, and still the Crunching tackles rained in, County Manager Steve Thompson another ex-Imp was always known as a hard bastard at Lincoln, and he wasmaking sure his players were the same.

On 20 minutes Danny Bacon came back on, and into the fray after two County corners came to nowt, City attacked again, this time it should have been 2-0. Bacon and Hughes combined well, before Hughes sent a dangerous cross in, Pilkington missed it and Beevers was on hand to smash the ball, not into the gaping net, but over the bar. Bloody easier to score the crowd thought!

On 33 minutes Moses almost got his 2nd, his deft flick of Kerrs inswinger just inches past the post, with Pilkington doing his best musical statue impression.

Countys aggressive tactics though were giving Lincoln no time to play their passing game. WHAT!!! Lincoln's PASSING game? I hear you cry. That's right we do have a new management team after all. The first half ended and the management team of John Schofield and John Deehan the happier of the bunch. But that was going to change for the 2nd half.

City started with the same 11, including Danny Bacon, sporting 9 stiches above his right eye, and actually started the brighter of the two teams. Stallard forcing a save, and Forrester shooting just wide.

Oh Horahh we are leading!

Schoey made his first switch on 52 minutes when Ryan Semple (another debutuant) came on for Danny Bacon. Mendes coming on for County in place of Lawrie Dudfield, and it was Mendes introduction that led to an unfortunate equaliser.

A free kick awarded just after the introduction was hit by Ian Ross, and the inswinger appeared to bounce off Jeff Hughe's head into the net. Bugger own goal! Imps 1 - County 1.

Not much really to speak of for the rest of the half, remember the report is biased. As both teams came close to scoring, none closer than County, who somehow contrived to miss with the Lincoln Keeper on the floor and an empty new saying "hit me, hit me" Seems like the County players were pacifists though as none of them thankfully, could hit the net.

So the final whistle went with honours even, a fair result if truth be known, and at least not a defeat at home, so it's off to newly promoted Hereford, who won 2-0 away, on Tuesday evening for our first away game. It's Hereford's opening home game, so I am not hopeful for anything there!

Teams sheets

Lincoln City

Notts County

1. Alan Marriot

1. Kevin Pilkington

2. Lee Beevers

2. David Pipe

4. Aide Moses

3. Austin McCann

5. Paul Morgan

4. Mike Edwards

24. Jeff Hughes

5. Alan White

7. Lee Frecklington

6. Matthew Somner

11. Scott Kerr

9. Jason Lee

14. Ryan Amoo

10. Lawrie Dudfield

9. Mark Stallard

11. Andy Parkinson

10. Danny Bacon

12. Gary Silk

22. Jamie Forrester

24. Ian Ross

Subs

16. Ryan Semple (for Bacon 52)

20. Junior Mendes (for Dudfield 53)

17. Colin Cryan (for Kerr 62)

15. Tcham N'Toya (for Lee 68)

3. Paul Mayo (for Forrester 74)

21. Tom Curtis (for Ross 80)

8. Gary Birch

22. Dan Gleeson

13. Simon Raynor

23. Saul Deeney

Ref eree: Tony Bates (Staffs), Assistants: Mark Lawson & David Richardson

ATTENDANCE: 6,046 (1,860 visiting!)

Entertainment

Is it worth going to the Cinema these days?

I know this should probably fall under the 'Weekly Question' category, but as I haven't posted for a few days, I thought I would put it here as a kind of bonus question.
Now I watched a pretty good film last night (V for Vendetta), which I thought was ideal for DVD, but not so much for the cinema.

So is it worth going to the cinema these days? I mean the new films are released to DVD within a few months of them being in the cinema's, it used to be over 12 months, now it's more like 3.
The TV's we have now are pretty reasonably priced for the big 36" - 42" screens, even the plasma hang on the wall TV's have come down in price, from the ridiculous £10, 000 of 5 years ago, to £1500 today.
Finally, add the dolby pro-logic systems to the package, and you have just about got your own cinema in your own front room. Assuming of course your front room has the space to hold it all!

Sit back in a nice relaxing chair, turn down the lights, get the popcorn from the micro-wave, and you can be forgiven to believing you are in the cinema, ask someone to start talking half way through the film, or have one of your kids get up and walk in front of you at a crucial moment in the film, and you are definitely there.


Yet the cinema's are still going, and we still go and watch the films, but it is becoming less and less of a night out. We are also as a nation watching less TV, probably because there is so much crap on. Which begs the question, if we aren't watching TV, or going to the cinema, what are we doing.........better not answer that.

But, how are you going to get people back in the cinema's? Well you have to have the right films for a start, as I said earlier "V for Vendetta" is a good film, but it is hardly cinema worthy. Blockbusters such as "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" were made for the big screen, so were oldies like "Indianna Jones", and King Kong. So should we just screen blockbusters on the big screen, and leave the more run of the mill films to be released on DVD? Probably yes, but in reality it wont happen.

Another consideration is cost, the last time I went to the cinema was to see "x-men2", a great film, but it cost for two of us 12 quid to get in, and then nearly as much on Popcorn, and drinks. If we hadn't smuggled in the chocolate it would have been that bit more.

Nowadays though you have the franchises taking over all the traditional movie theatres, and converting them into 10 screen multiplexes, more choice yes, but far less character. Which a lot of the older cinema goers went for.

So we come full circle and back to the DVD releases for the home and the short time they are released. I am not complaining, I think it's great and would rather wait to pay £15 (or much less these days) for a DVD of a blockbuster, that I can watch whenever and wherever I like as many times as I like, than go and see it once for the same price at the cinema. I can also pause the film should I need a pee! Or turn it off, have my tea and then pick up where I left off.

The first song on MTV was "Video killed the radio star" by the Buggles. I fully expect 10 years down the line for DVD or HDVD or whatever format is going, will have killed the cinema.

Travel

My Serbian Trip

As promised on my sneaky little posting, done at the customers PC, I am now ready to reveal to full details of my trip to Serbia, well all the bits that are personal, as I am sure you don't want to be bored stupid by the technical and work side of the trip. So here we go, lets start with the journey out.....

Left for Birmingham International at 7:15, on 2nd August, and was parked up by 8:30, for those who haven't been, Birmingham has just been refurbished and is a nice airport to go to. Unfortunately I was having to fly Lufthansa.
In the words of the Carlsberg ads "Carlsberg don't do...", Lufthansa don't do beers, and if they did they'd probably be the crappiest lagers in the world! I have yet to get onto a Lufthansa flight that has been on time leaving. Luckily as the connection was overbooked, it didn't leave on time so I managed to catch the flight OK. In flight meal on the Birmingham/Munich leg was a cheese butty, and a twix,that's single twix snack size. On the Munich/Belgrade flight it was a ham butty and a snack size twix. Do Lufthansa have shares in twix bars????
Got to Belgrade OK, and was met by the driver, and taken through beautiful scenery to a little town called Paracin (pronounced Para chin), and my hotel for the next 3 nights the Petrus.

Hotel Petrus - Paracin Serbia

Rather resembling a volcano in shape, the Petrus is a hotel, that offers.....that offers ...Err nice cheap food and accommodation. But I think they gave me the worst room in the hotel. I knew there was something wrong when they gave me the remote for the TV with my room key. Then I went to the room via the creaking lift (scary!), and opened the door, not too bad I thought. Until I sat on the bed in the wrong place and my arse nearly touched the floor, luckily I then used the other bed which wasn't so bad. I then checked out the en-suite, quite clean, but the tools were bogging and ripped. The shower was lying on the shower cubicle floor as there was nowhere it could be hung up, and the bog roll was sitting on top of the toilet, as there was no holder. Looks like Bathroom fittings are scarce in this area.

After a lukewarm shower, difficult to do with one hand holding the shower head, and trying to soap yourself with the other! I went to bed, only I didn't sleep all that well as there was no Air-con, I couldn't open the window, and it was around 32 degrees in the room. Cue a sweaty naked body in the bed. Normally I don't mind that if I am performing a certain activity ;) but when you are trying to sleep.......

Next morning after breakfast of orange squash, yes orange squash, and a ham sandwich, I went to work. Nice people the Serbians, very helpful, and for the most part very friendly. The guy I was working with was the spit of Dustin Hoffman. When I mentioned this he cringed, at the prospect of all his chums (also present) now calling him Rainman....Ooooops!

After finishing work was taken out to a nice little restaurant, for a meal and a couple of jars, will 3 or 4, of the lovely Jelen beer. Try it if you can, 5% and NO headache the next day...Lovely Jubbly.

Sorry for the Quality I was 1/2 cut after all

Then it was back to the hotel, where I waved goodbye to the lads, before having a trek around the town, 11pm at night and the place is rocking, I can recommend Paracin to anyone who want to view some eye-candy, there are plenty of beautiful women on show. But don't go if you suffer badly with neck problems, as you can quite easily put your neck out with all the oggling!

Next Day, after a surprisingly peaceful sleep (Jelen does help you sleep too!), I had a nice little breakfast, and then went to work. Rainman, was happy as he didn't have the expected piss taking, and the job I had done yesterday was still OK. So finishing early, I went back to the hotel, and managed to get a change of rooms for the last night. Much better room, cleaner, Air conditioning, Internet connection, ohhhh this was better, now for that shower. NO still no fixings, guess it was a one hander again.

Saturday 5th I left Serbia, for the UK via Munich, surprise, suprise Lufthansa delayed again. But the weird thing was, although the flight was delayed from Munich to Birmingham by 15 minutes, we arrived 20 minutes ahead of schedule! Go Figure!

The Weekly Question

Are more Airline Taxes and Pay as You Go roads Going to work?

Well I have just returned from Serbia and have heard that this wonderful government of ours have plans to raise taxes on Airline fuel duty, and to introduce in the future "Pay as you Go" roads, so the question for the week is will it work? Will it reduce the amount of cars on the road? No Chance!

The very fact that people travel in their cars is because they have to. No debate, no excuses, there are so many people now who would find it virtually impossible to get to work without their motors, I am one of them, and here is why.
In most parts (notice I said most) of the country the public transport system is inefficient, crowded, and too expensive, it can also be very unreliable. So people resort to using their cars.
There is also the fact that you feel a damn sight safer in your car than you would if you were on a tube, and a bunch of drunken louts got on spoiling for trouble.

Lets take each of the points in turn;

1) Inefficient/Unreliable Public transport system - How many times have you been waiting for a train that has been delayed? Or for one bus, and then two turn up because the 2nd bus has caught up with the 1st that was late?
How many times have you missed or been late for an appointment because the train was late?
These are all problems that still have not been addressed, and they will continue to be a problem until the funding for public transport is improved.

2) Crowded - Yep that's right, although it is pretty poor, the public transport system is pretty crowded, go on the London Underground, and it's not very often you will get a seat all the way to your destination. More than likely you end up with the armpit of the worlds worst washer stuffed under your nose.

3) Too expensive - 5 years ago I was traveling from Grantham to Stevenage in my car everyday, a journey of around 800 miles a week, so I decided to check the price of a monthly season ticket on the train. I was quoted £343 per month. Now you then add the daily carpark cost, as I was too far from the station to walk and it would for the month have taken the cost to over £400. Now when you consider that my petrol for the month was costing about £280, Add to that wear & tear, and the cost to travel by car would be about £320. So which one am I going to choose?? Not only that when I take my own car, I can go when I want and come back when I want, I am not tied to anything.

Now if the government do introduce this pay as you go cost, it will be a complete nightmare. The cost will be astronomical, fitting every car with a special device to monitor the cars position, and to how far traveled, is really a non-starter. policing it is going to be ludicrous, how are they going to do it?? For me it is a total no brainer by the government trying to appease the environmentalists.
If they want to get the people of the roads, there is only one way they are gong to do it, and that is to improve public transport;

1) Make the public transport network better available to all, and serving more places more often.
2) Make Public Transport cheaper
3) Don't just concentrate on London, there are other cities you know Blair!
4) Make public transport safer, for travelerller.
5) Encourage the use of public transport, by offering incentives to use it, such as tax breaks.
6) Improve the quality of the buses, trains etc, there are an awful lot of dingy trains, that are filthy dirty, and not in the least bit welcoming.
7) Reward good PT operators, for cleanliness, efficiency and time keeping.

In answer then to the question. No it will not work as far to many oftrulyuely cannot do without our cars, we are living in a society where we live further and further away from our work, and therefore until the government change their policy of hitting the motorist as much as it can, to updating and improving Public Transport, to get as many people using it as they can. Then they will always have a battle on their hands.

Travel - update

On the Road

I am publishing this post from a computer in a cement plant in Serbia, and as my hotel (HA HA HA HA! if you call it that!) does not have internet access, I am grabbing the chance to post, whilst the customer is in breakfast....naughty me.
I will update this blog when I get back so expect a few more posts on Monday.

Catch you later!

Impy

Travel

And so it begins again...

...After more than 5 weeks at home, I have finally got another trip coming up! Then another a week after that. Typical this, rather like London buses you wait ages for one, and then 3 come at the same time. But that is the way it is as life as a Commissioning Engineer.
So what part of the world am I going to next???


Serbia!! I have never been there so am pretty much looking forward to it, although it looks like it is pretty short notice, 3 days this time!
Where in Serbia am I going?? Well it's a place called Popovac, and the only thing I have come up so far is this http://www.popovac.hr/ but as it is in serbian I cant say how much there will be to do there. Not that I get time to see the sights!

Background Information

As this is going to be a regular post, I had best give a little bit of background information on what I do.
Basically I go into cement plants worldwide and commission our product, which is a Thermal Imaging Line Scanner. Quick explanation - scanner measures the radiated heat from a kiln shell, against known references and then produces a picture on a computer screen that corresponds with the temperatures.
I also commission a system called a Thermascope, which is a camera system that looks directly into the kiln and produces a picture on the screen. I could go on a lot more about it but I am digressing from the post, so if you want to gen up look here - http://www.thermoteknix.com/

Past and Present

Now all those who think to themselves "You jammy git doing all that travelling", let me just say this, it aint all that it's cracked up to be.
For a start, I am normally only away in the country for at most 1 week, and most of the time I am on site. The sites are generally located out in the sticks, so you have got bugger all to do while your there (it's amazing what you read when you are bored), unless they have the Internet in the hotel you are staying at. Then there is the hotels themselves, my colleague Elmer and I often have to stay in the 2-3 star places, and rarely get into the 5 star luxury we deserve.
In the past I have been to places like Miami (twice!) , Ecuador, China (4 times!) and Thailand.
Those weren't too bad, but then you get the not so nice places such as Saudi Arabia, Mexico and India.
Remember I go to out of the sticks places, not the nice touristy areas, and yet again in a couple of weeks I have to go to one of the less than pleasant places once again, that is Chaibasa in India.
My apologees to anyone who knows Chaibasa or who lives there, but to get to it is a chore in itself and is another reason why I am not as lucky as people think.
First there is the flight to India roughly 8 hours, then you have a train journey of 14 hours, after that there is a drive of 4 hours to get there.
Now, this is the most heart rendering journey I have made anywhere in the world. If you saw the documentry on the train kids of India, you will know what I mean. Kids as young as 8 jumping on the moving train with a filthy rag as clothes, and a brush made of sticks to sweep up the dust from the floor. Crawling among the feet of the passengers often getting kicked by some of the callous bastards, then begging for a few coins, made the tears well up in my eyes. All my interpretor could say was give them nothing, with a look of sheer contempt on his face. I felt like decking him there and then.
Before that we had a guy carry 40kgs of luggage on his head 500 yards to the train for what amounted to 60p, or a little over $1.
That is why I hate going there, not because I don't like the country, it is very beautiful, it's because of witnessing first hand the sheer poverty that some of the people live in, especially the kids. I defy anyone to be affected by it.
So once more I have to go, luckily I am on holiday after my trip, so I can not dwell on it too much.
Just a message for those of you who are lapping up the hospitality of Goa, and wondering why, or even thinking that India isn't that poor, you are not in the real India. If you were you would be on the first flight home, tears streaming down your face.

More after my next trip!