| Musings on aiport security - or how I nearly lost my laptop |
[Jul. 13th, 2009|01:06 pm] |
I did some business travel last week, and coming back from Frankfurt on Tuesday learned some very valuable lessons.
Frankfurt airport (T2) security has always annoyed me a little, as there is no central security check for all gates. Instead, security is decentralised, with checkpoints for small clusters of gates. So you go through passport control and customs, and hit the shops, but you have no way of knowing how long it will take you to clear security until you get to your gate. Which is mildly annoying and generally leads to me spending less time in the shops/cafe and more hanging around bored at the gate as I'm paranoid about missing my flight. At most other airports, of course, there is a central security check immediately after passport control, and once you're through that, you have access to all shops and all gates.
Now here's what happened to me on Tuesday in Frankfurt: Like a good citizen, I put my bags on the conveyor belt to go through x-ray, I took my laptop out and put in a separate tray, took shoes off - the whole shebang. I then joined quite a long queue to go through the metal detectors. By the time I came out the other side, my bags and laptop had been sitting on the other side of the x-ray machine for a good 5 minutes. I grabbed my bags, took a look at one of the laptops that was sitting there, decided it wasn't mine, waited a bit until the staff confirmed there were no more laptops going through. My laptop wasn't there. I then looked again at the unclaimed laptop that was there. It looked remarkably similar to mine - the outer casing of it was identical to that of mine, bar one small sticker. I must have subconsciously picked up the difference and realised that this wasn't my laptop. But I can see how the other person made the mistake and picked up mine.
Much shouting at security staff later, they finally managed to get supervisor to the gate who then went around all the gates in that cluster getting people to check their laptops. What helped was that the laptop I had had the guy's name as the login, as well as some stickers indicating the company name. Luckily we found the person in question and I got my laptop back.
Things I have learned:
- The security layout at Frankfurt does have some advantages, even if it does leave me less time for shopping/drinking coffee.
- Apparently there is legal precedent in Germany stating that airport security staff are not liable for damage or theft of your possessions as a result of the security check. To my mind this means that I shouldn't let go of my stuff for longer than absolutely necessary, i.e. I only put it on the conveyor belt once they are ready for me to go through the metal detector, and if they pull me aside for a search after the metal detector, I insist that search is performed in way that allows me to see my possessions. Now, imagine the kind of havoc that would cause for Heathrow T5's security, which clearly was not designed with humans in mind. Anyone want to give it a go?
This entry was originally posted at http://elmyra.dreamwidth.org/2003.html. Please comment there using OpenID. |
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| Torchwood - Children of Earth |
[Jul. 12th, 2009|09:28 pm] |
So, I've been behind on Torchwood. I hadn't even quite twigged it was back on until it started surfacing on Twitter last week, and then I was away, so I only caught up on it this weekend. Which given the nature of the beast this time round, was probably a good thing. I wouldn't have wanted to watch that particular series on piecemeal, weekly sort of way.
I must say I absolutely loved Children of Earth, but equally, I keep hoping they find a reset button for that one somewhere because I don't want Torchwood to end, or try to keep going without Jack and/or Ianto. But heck, overall I thought Children of Earth was brilliant.
Things I liked:
- The overall story.
- Some of the moral questions it raised, in episode 4 in particular: overpopulation, infant mortality, how do we go about choosing who to sacrifice, sacrificing the chavs, sacrificing one for the good of many, all that stuff.
- The politics: a PM called Green, politicians' obsession with spin and the short term, the "our children are exempt" shenanigans, a very dark - and not unjustified - view of the British state and government.
- It worked dramatically: it kept me hooked for the full five hours. The creepy children, the interactions between the main characters (Jack/Ianto relationship angst anyone?), the supporting cast, the pacing, the one-liners, it all worked really nicely.
- Lois. Lois was amazing. She so should get a job at Torchwood.
Things I didn't like:
- Ianto dying. On several levels that was deeply wrong. On a personal level, I liked the character, I liked his relationship with Jack. On a political level, I am somewhat fed up with shows killing off the gay characters, because we can't possibly show two men in a stable and loving relationship with each other. Oh, come on!
- The ending was thoroughly Hitch Hiker's Guide, only not funny. Didn't quite work for me.
Really sad that they appear to have killed the show. But contemplating getting a Worldcon membership next year just so I can nominate Day Four for Best Dramatic Presentation Short Form, or possibly the lot for Long Form. |
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| Sunday morning boring post brain spill |
[Jul. 12th, 2009|10:32 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  awake | ] |
| [ | music |
| | last fm various | ] |
So I had a lie in and now I'm hanging out with 2 insane ferrets who really could do with a walk but it keeps raining. Hope weather is better next Sunday for Bibliogoths bbq Thanks to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) lasti and inulro . Hink when they finally crash, i'l do some baking (not of the ferrets). Would be almost a perfect sunday morning if I didn't have a cold and no one to talk to! dghaem is at Duxford airshow so I'm on my own in the house (i think). Think porridge for breakfast. Have just enjoyed www.eternalmoonwalk.com flagged up by Amanda Palmers twitter also this from Stephen Fry www//en.wikipedia.org:wiki:Gropecunt_Lane.
This week I also learnt how to retweet things and finished Little Brother by Corey Doctrow Very good book even if it is YA. In the middle of reading 2 excellent books; Dear Fatty by Dawn French and Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill kindly lent by girfan .
Got a really busy week at work next week (with both jobs) so I better try n relax a bit today. I'm not really very good at that but we will see.
Dook dook boing and out
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| Stupid scenes from my life, volume baby names |
[Jul. 9th, 2009|09:03 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  WHAT?! | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Edwin Starr - War | ] |
I swear I am not making any of this up. [[at my cousin's house, pregnancy photos a-go-go]] Me: So, what names are you thinking of now?
Rachel: If it's a girl, it'll be Nya. If it's a boy... we both really like Brooklyn.
Me: Brooklyn?!
Rachel: Yeah, everyone reacts like that, they go on about the Beckhams, but we like it.
Me: Please don't call it Brooklyn.
Rachel: The other name I really liked was Memphis, but Andy said no. [[Rachel's phone rings]] Rachel: Hiya, alright? Oh,she's had it, has she? Was it a boy? What have - Tiger? TIGER??? No! That's just mean! Tiger! That's really cruel. |
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| Communication from Tanzania |
[Jul. 7th, 2009|01:31 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  curious | ] |
"We're staying at the camp tonight and going to the project site on Tuesday. I just performed Billie Jean in front of thirty Rastafarians."
James seems to be doing well over there. He and his engineering nerds were apparently honoured guests at the opening of a cathedral and shook hands with the prime minister of Tanzania. I'm not sure if they've lied profusely about who they are and why they're there, or if Tanzania just doesn't get many visitors. He's running with his opportunity, though. I envy him.
Two months til Mexico! I'm far too travel-buggish at the moment - I'm half-seriously wondering if I can get a fourth trip in this year, and Jess and I have started planning next year's jaunt round America. New York, Las Vegas, LA, San Francisco in any order. Well, that's the idea. It may be a little too ambitious for our finances, especially if I keep blowing so much of my money on clothes.
I'm doing Rachel's pregnancy photos on Thursday, and I'm getting paid for it (not a huge amount, but it'll cover the dress I bought last week). I'm a little nervous about it, since I'm still not too experienced with photographing people who aren't me. Hopefully it'll be OK, if I shoot high-res RAW images and then edit the living crap out of them. If I can get rid of her stretch marks, she'll be happy. It's been quite surprising to me how many people have responded, when I mention the shoot, with sheer disgust: "Ew! Why would you want photos of that?!" Because... it's a special time in her life? Because she wants to document the life of her baby right from the early days? Even because she's interested in the changes to her body? I find it bizarre the way people have been reacting. It's like I've said, "I'm doing a photoshoot for my cousin. She, her partner and her kids are going to shit on the patio and smear it all over themselves, and she'd like a photo of it to put on the mantlepiece." In this day and age, do we really still think pregnancy is gross? Weird.
I have a decision to make. It's only a little one, but I think it'll tell me what sort of person I am now. And I'm not telling you what that decision is, because this a public entry and I'm a tease. Sorry.
I went on a two-day training course last week, and I learnt that I'm not supposed to use the word "sorry". Or "actually". Or "unfortunately". Or "but". I bloody hate customer service. |
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| Friends Only |
[Jul. 7th, 2009|11:28 am] |
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My journal is friends only, I do like to meet new people though so do comment if you'd like to be added to my friends list. |
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| Closure? |
[Jul. 4th, 2009|11:41 pm] |
It's been 4 months 1 week and 1 day since he left me and I'm only just starting to feel it. Some might say that is peculiar but I think losing love in any situation causes a certain kind of grief a lot like coming to terms with a death. I struggle not to think of him in everything I do, I find myself scanning the crowds as I walk through town hoping for just a glimpse of him. I dream the same dream over and over and always the same, where he's coming to me just to say goodbye one more time maybe because there was no real goodbye. Oneday we were together falling asleep holding hands and the next he just said "I don't love you anymore and I want you to leave"...Just like that.
I've never known a feeling like this before, one you cannot shake or deny or supress. It is a feeling of emptiness, a desire for something you know was once so real but now you're not even sure it really existed. Sometimes it's like as if you've lost a limb and can still feel your toes but when you look down you see it really isn't there anymore.
I find I'm a cycle... It begins with the dreams where I am here in Combe Down where this all started and he comes to me with a jewellery box (sometimes it's just a ring box) he gets into bed with me and hands me the box he says "I've changed my mind I said I wanted to marry you" I open the box with all the hope and joy in the world and find it is empty and when I look up he's gone. When I wake up throughout the day he's on my mind and I find myself still saving conversation, storing up little details that I am sure I'm meant to share with him. Then I take a deep breath and remember how he probably wouldn't have cared anyway and how controlled and beaten down I was by his stoney and unbendable attitude towards love and how he hasn't broken my heart...he's just taken it and thrown it away, discarded it in some dark place so I can't find it no matter how hard I look. Suddenly all I can feel is anger at how he just left me with nothing, turned me away like I was some old cheap novelty which he just couldn't stand to have hanging around in the house. All the desire to see him again and the sadness at losing the love we had is magically and momentarily lifted...to be replaced by anger and disappointment which I take to bed with me and it visits me in my sleep...and so the cycle begins all over again.
I've got to a place now where I've realised that all I need is some kind of closure. At first I thought if I could get him to forgive me for not being good enough, for doing everything wrong or for whatever reason he had to stop loving me maybe he would take me back and all of it would just become like a bad dream forgotten. It took me a while to see through the awful thoughts I had of myself like since the very first moment I met him every choice, every decision, every thought and every action I made was wrong. Now it's slowly dawning on me that the closure I am looking for is not from him. I don't think there's much left to forgive if anything I should be the one trying to forgive him but naturally love as love is will always open the way for forgiveness. Just the same love where love is not makes forgiveness a tough (neigh impossible) thing find. Especially when the only person I need to forgive is myself. I just can't forgive myself for falling in love with him in the first place because if I had just not gone on that date and if I had just never retook his number all of this wouldn't have happened and I would never have had to know what it is to be tortured by my own regrets everyday. I would never have slept by his side and would not have to live knowing that I never will again. People say it's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all and I say - Bullshit. |
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| Incik |
[Jul. 1st, 2009|06:44 pm] |
So, kittensofdoom came back from her sojourn north of the border and I decided to welcome her back with a special meal. One of the things she really likes in Marmaris and tried and loved when we were in Turkey was Incik. For those that don't know, those I've had have been Lamb Shank in a tomatoey sauce usually slow cooked and served with rice.
I actually managed to get some Lamb Shanks from Waitrose and found a recipie for Incik that I felt I could implement. I left the meat on the bone and halved all the amounts as I only did it for two.
kittensofdoom loved it. YAY!
Anyhow, I'm sure some people might like to try it so I thought I'd post a link to the recipe. It takes a little while but really only uses one dish! Washing up = negligible. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 1st, 2009|03:22 pm] |
Does anybody want a piano? It's a Gors and Kallmann from about 1920, with a very nice sound and very responsive to play. It's a very good quality instrument, if somewhat gothic-looking - candlesticks and all - but it can no longer stay where it is, so I must either rehouse/lend it to someone, or sell it. I'd FAR rather lend it to someone who will play and maintain it, but I am open to any and all offers.
Any potential keeper should be willing to look after it for the medium to long term, have it tuned, and cultivate tolerant (or distant) neighbours.
( Pictures... ) |
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 30th, 2009|06:33 pm] |
My Ludo ragdoll is made from suede and vintage yarn. His limbs and details were pain stakingly hand sewn on.
Took me two long days. He's very sturdy and has the feel of a "dream pet"
He goes very well with my Firey goblin Ragdoll
( more photos... )
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