Off Topic A Place to have a Moan about Anything

Morning BK, have made an edit in para. 2 of my post on the old Bayern Ticket. You might want to 'unlike', only fair to tell you.

 

As I have not visited or stayed in Salzburg for a few years I shall accept your reticence in making this journey to VonTrappStadt. My 'Like' remains due to my rail meanders from Munich to Berchtesgaden, Mittenwald, Nurnberg and all points Franconian plus from Nurnberg to Bamberg, Bayreuth and Passau.

Think we have discussed this before; my Mum and I stayed in Freilassing once. It was a smashing wee town thankfully missing many tourists (like us?). When we stayed it was before 1995 and Austria had not yet joined the European Union (EU) so, if I recall correctly, many families lived in Germany but ran businesses in Austria. We discussed this with two large multi generational family groups who invited us to sit at their table during a town festival. It seems many individuals scored plenty from VAT refunds when bringing goodies into the EU.

In those 'good old days' I used to insist my passport was stamped at the border controls between West Germany and Austria ; memories of 'Night Train To Munich' and 'The Lady Vanishes'.

 

If there were a train from anywhere North of Watford getting to London at 5am Saturday, I expect that it would be empty around 300 days a year like all those virtually empty trains I have had occasion to use in France. In order to catch the ferry to Portsmouth from Caen once, I got a train from Paris that arrived at 3am and when it got to Caen, I was the only person that got off. Cheap railways in Europe are mostly thanks to state subsidy – everyone paying for them whether they use them or not: the sort of collective failure that Corbyn espouses.

Had you been paying any attention to the machinations of the Brussels Politburo, you would have seen that they have made a liberal decree that all of Europe’s rail monopolies should be opened up to competition. When I was in the Czech Republic earlier this year, I took a trip from Prague to Kutna Hora. It was dirt cheap (about £7 each way) but the three trains were all different operators. The train from Kolin to Kutna Hora was the only part run by the ‘national’ railway, presumably because there was no profit to be made from a local service between two small towns.

Those NHS PFI contracts were actually handed out by Gordon Brown. Strange how when something is a bad idea instituted by the Tories everyone forgets that Labour continued doing it from 1997 to 2010. Nice new shiny hospitals and schools but with 40 year maintenance contracts signed at ridiculous rates by the man who only read a few pages of Keynesian Economics for Dummies.

 

you can't accept that a rail service is just that , a service , not a short term profit grab on busy routes , postal service , is still egalitarian just , not sure if you've ever posted letters in usa or many other parts of the world but i can assure you it can take weeks .... as for brown and blair , they were indeed nebo liberal tories mascarading as labour party people , no coincidence that once democracy was restored to the party , the party now represents its members , there is the issue of the many appointed by the elite / blairite cabal who are moaning and doing their best to undermine the elected leaders , the membership are angry with these charlatans , the press love them as they are all part of the establishment , that's why all the smears are aimed at the guy you keep saying is useless , if he was he wouldn't be a threat would he ? i know you don't believe in democracy, but many people do ......

 

A rail “service” is not a service at all. A very quick check in your history books will show you that none of the original operators of the railways were egalitarian or remotely philanthropic. The brain-dead numpties of the hard Left refuse to accept that almost all that we have in the modern world is the result of free enterprise, innovation and endeavour driven by Capitalism. What transformed the internet from a geeky network of computer scientists at a handful of global universities into a worldwide platform for commerce?

I do have experience of the US Postal Service. I have friends that live in the US and things do take several days to arrive even for those living in big cities. That said, the only way that you can get something delivered in this country by Royal Mail is to pay a premium for guaranteed 24 hour delivery. It used to be that you just put a first class postage stamp on a card or letter and it got there the next day. Of course, there was no instant electronic alternative in those days. If I want to contact someone in the US these days, I am more likely to use an email – not guaranteed to be delivered at all but will get there in seconds in the vast majority of cases.

Democracy in the Labour Party does not really seem to work in the manner that most people would understand by the use of the word. They have a load of ‘associate’ members who actually never joined the Labour Party at all but signed up to be members of a trade union. In 2015, the reported membership of the Labour Party before the leadership election was 292,505. Now that the Militants, the Trots and the neo-Communists at Momentum have all signed up, it reached 552,000 in December 2017. They want to rid the party of anyone that is not hard Left, the Muppet they have put in charge is only there to sell the ‘everything for free’ agenda to the stupid youth of the nation in exchange for their votes and will subsequently be replaced with the real Marxists – the McDonnell-bot, who will do what the McCluskey-bot tells him to do. The Labour Party is the road to oblivion with two brain-dead Scousers pulling the strings.

The good news is that at least we know where to find all these hard Left animals nowadays rather than them just grumbling from the sidelines in the ‘broad church’ that is the Labour Party. For ‘hard Left’ read ‘left behind’. These dinosaurs will descend on their Liverpool conference to claim that they are being kept from power by media barons, the Deep State conspiracy, Blairites and centrists; rather than by the simple fact that their philosophy is a failed anachronism that has proved destructive around the world. Their party has only won eleven of the thirty-one elections it has contested (three were minorities) and they openly despise the man who provided three of those victories by moving to the centre ground of politics where most voters live.

 

Its been a while.....

You go to the Ryder Cup. You get hit by stray drive. You sue the organizers!
What a stupid ****!

 

Good point, but I guess it's hard to think rationally immediately after losing the sight of one eye? She was not old either, hell of a shock. I know in a way because one of my eyes is pretty much useless (20% vision) after many OP's due to a totally unexpected retina detachment. She is in shock at the moment, but I am sure will soon come to realise that it was the cruellest of bad luck? Certainly not one bit funny.

 

Wouldn't the promoters have insurance for moments like this?

 

Have my doubts if any claim would be successful, Cyc?

 

Public Liability Insurance maybe?

 

Ah yes, any insurance experts on here? I wouldn't even be able to fill-out the claim form!

 

I'm sure some solicitor would manage to get her something, unless she is covered by her own insurance. If the organisers allow spectators onto dangerous areas I would imagine they have public liability insurance. They may have signs all over the place stating spectators enter the zone(s) at their own risk, which could make it tricky for any solicitor. Maybe professional golfers have to have their own insurance in which case she could be claiming against the wrong people.

Some insurance should pay for it that is for sure. Solicitor advice needed here

 

I would imagine that every ticket sold was issued with an "at your own risk" attachment!

It just pisses me off that people always think someone should pay for the ill fortune. I wonder how long it was before the "ambulance chaser" arrived at her hospital bedside.

 

Must confess I’ve never really ‘got’ the Ryder Cup. Similar sentiments apply re international football, boxing and cycling (as a spectator sport).

Anyway, best question I heard was, on the wireless, when someone asked, in all seriousness, if because of Brexit, this would be the last Ryder Cup with UK involvement?!?

 

With you on the Ryder Cup; used to love playing golf (14 handicap) and enjoy viewing on the television however this team event leaves me cold.

I do not have the technical ability to upload the clip from a UK wireless channel (www.talksport.com) however there is a priceless interview with a supporter of Heart of Midlothian who calls and asks why 'The Jambos' goalkeeper is not being capped by Scotland. The wonder in the caller's voice when he is informed that Antti Niemi is Finnish is a scream!

I think the clip is available on youtube.

 

Thanks Cyc, my technical maestro; I hope this amused you. It is even funnier the twentieth time around!