I've just spent days booking hotels for two independent holidays - one in the Inner Hebredes & one in Rome. I use a combination of Trip Advisor & the hotel's own websites if available. When planning an itinerary I cheat & look at the itineraries of tour operators. That gives you a basic idea of the important places to visit.
There is always a tension between doing a trip independently and being completely free to go where you want to & stay as long as you like & doing it with a group tour. I've travelled a lot & done both. I've also booked a cheap holiday with an operator & used the cheap flight & accommodation as a base to do my own thing hiring a car.
On balance I prefer independent travel. I like the freedom & you interact far more with people in the countries you visit. Groups develop a herd mentality & are delivered like a parcel from place to place. You don't have the hassle, but there are constraints & you have to put up with the people in the group come what may. I've also found a huge variation in the quality & price of what tour operators provide. I think I've now reached the age where I do like comfort, both in transport & accommodation.
On the other hand booking 6 different B&B's in the Hebrides took a huge amount of my time, despite modern communications. However organised you are you don't know until you get there whether you will arrive safely & someone will be expecting you.
I've been a member of Trip Advisor for years & think it is a very helpful website. There is a possible issue about the veracity of some reviews, but I think it is often possible to tell if reviews are genuine. The websites tools are helpful. The main problem is sifting through the huge choice.
How fortunate we are to be able to travel the world relatively cheaply and safely. Travel is vital to help us understand different cultures. Seeing places on TV or reading travel books is no substitute. If we are ever to achieve a world where peace reigns & diversity is really valued we need to experience a range of attitudes, beliefs & ways of doing things. There is no short cut.
Wednesday, 20 January 2016
Monday, 18 January 2016
Money & Value
Value - desirability, worth, merit, importance
Money - a medium of exchange that functions as legal tender.
Does the developed world put too much value on money as a measure of real value?
We actually publish Rich Lists. There are numerous TV documentaries about how the rich spend their money - often quite obscenely & tastelessly. Magazines are full of the lives of the rich and supposedly famous. It is the raison d'etre of Hello & OK magazines & others like them. We actually have A, B & C lists of the rich & famous. Enormous numbers of people buy lottery tickets hoping to win ridiculous amounts of money which will change their lives, but often not for the better.
People aspire to have their 15 minutes of fame. They think that if they are rich money will solve their problems & their lives will be enriched.
We are who we are. We carry our past, our personality, our problems with us. We carry our strengths & our weaknesses. The real value is in facing our personal demons & really living the lives we have. Facing every day, living it to the full, trying to be the best we can be.
Some of us are blessed & lucky. Others are not. The lottery of adversity & bad luck can touch anyone at any time. There are some things beyond our control.
If we each live in our own bubble selfishly & don't share our good luck and good fortune we are diminished and isolated. If all the rich do is gratify their own desires, however extreme, the world is a poorer place.
No one is more important or worth more than anyone else. The only way our civilisation will survive is if we all really share the all the blessings. There has to be some measure of equality of opportunity. Not a self perpetuating hierarchy of good fortune.
Money - a medium of exchange that functions as legal tender.
Does the developed world put too much value on money as a measure of real value?
We actually publish Rich Lists. There are numerous TV documentaries about how the rich spend their money - often quite obscenely & tastelessly. Magazines are full of the lives of the rich and supposedly famous. It is the raison d'etre of Hello & OK magazines & others like them. We actually have A, B & C lists of the rich & famous. Enormous numbers of people buy lottery tickets hoping to win ridiculous amounts of money which will change their lives, but often not for the better.
People aspire to have their 15 minutes of fame. They think that if they are rich money will solve their problems & their lives will be enriched.
We are who we are. We carry our past, our personality, our problems with us. We carry our strengths & our weaknesses. The real value is in facing our personal demons & really living the lives we have. Facing every day, living it to the full, trying to be the best we can be.
Some of us are blessed & lucky. Others are not. The lottery of adversity & bad luck can touch anyone at any time. There are some things beyond our control.
If we each live in our own bubble selfishly & don't share our good luck and good fortune we are diminished and isolated. If all the rich do is gratify their own desires, however extreme, the world is a poorer place.
No one is more important or worth more than anyone else. The only way our civilisation will survive is if we all really share the all the blessings. There has to be some measure of equality of opportunity. Not a self perpetuating hierarchy of good fortune.
Saturday, 16 January 2016
Drug Wars - A Lesson in Futility
My drugs of choice would be chocolate & a good white wine.
I have long thought that making drug users criminals was ridiculous. If I were PM I would legalise all drugs. I would make doctors control dispensing them & monitor the health of addicts. This would immediately stop the huge sums of money being made by criminals. It would protect vulnerable people who cannot control their addiction on their own. They would no longer need to resort to crime to feed the habit. Victims of those crimes would be safer. The police would not waste huge resources in money, time & manpower policing the drug trade & it's wider aspects. It just seems an obvious win win situation to me. The endless cycle would be broken.
Now the imperatives are even higher. Terrorists all over the world control drug sale & production. They make vast sums of money on a daily basis to pay for training camps, arms & the infrastructure of indoctrination & recruitment. We need to cut off their supply of cash. Now. Legalising drugs would go a long way to doing that.
The bonus is that the government would actually make money from taxes on drugs as well as saving money on a war on drugs that has never been successful. What's not to like?
Misha Glenny is a Guardian journalist who has written convincingly on this subject.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/808c348e-a4db-11e5-a91e-162b86790c58.html#axzz3xPBzeOfi
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/jul/22/drugstrade.internationalcrime - Article by Misha Glenny
We really can't afford not to do this.
I have long thought that making drug users criminals was ridiculous. If I were PM I would legalise all drugs. I would make doctors control dispensing them & monitor the health of addicts. This would immediately stop the huge sums of money being made by criminals. It would protect vulnerable people who cannot control their addiction on their own. They would no longer need to resort to crime to feed the habit. Victims of those crimes would be safer. The police would not waste huge resources in money, time & manpower policing the drug trade & it's wider aspects. It just seems an obvious win win situation to me. The endless cycle would be broken.
Now the imperatives are even higher. Terrorists all over the world control drug sale & production. They make vast sums of money on a daily basis to pay for training camps, arms & the infrastructure of indoctrination & recruitment. We need to cut off their supply of cash. Now. Legalising drugs would go a long way to doing that.
The bonus is that the government would actually make money from taxes on drugs as well as saving money on a war on drugs that has never been successful. What's not to like?
Misha Glenny is a Guardian journalist who has written convincingly on this subject.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/808c348e-a4db-11e5-a91e-162b86790c58.html#axzz3xPBzeOfi
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/jul/22/drugstrade.internationalcrime - Article by Misha Glenny
We really can't afford not to do this.
Saturday, 9 January 2016
Technology & Ageing
Who would have thought that I would start wearing orthodontic braces at almost 71? There is no roadmap to ageing, so you know it's going to happen, but you really don't know how much of your life will be affected. Everyone has to navigate the sometimes rough seas as an explorer & find their own way through.
I have now got a pacemaker, a hearing aid, & a personal alarm in the house. I'm addicted to my computer & could run my whole life from my home, although that would be very isolating. Texting & emailing isn't the same as human contact. I also have a 4G phone.
Radio & TV are my windows on the world. I have a Kindle, but have to admit I still prefer books. Technology allows me to be selective, so I rarely watch live TV, preferring a PVR recording instead. Currently my Smart TV is proving a bit to difficult for my ageing brain & I can't seem to watch my other TV & record on the new PVR simultaneously.
My kitchen is a marvel of modern appliances despite the fact that, as a single person, I cook from scratch much less than I used to.
Online banking & shopping have changed my life. I was wary at first, but now I wouldn't be without it. Click & Collect it wonderful.
Information, people, the world are all easily accessible. The only downside is that when there are glitches or problems I can't fix them. I need someone who can & that can be expensive.
All in all I think I am probably lucky to be ageing now with all the benefits of technology. It must have been much harder for my parents generation.
I have now got a pacemaker, a hearing aid, & a personal alarm in the house. I'm addicted to my computer & could run my whole life from my home, although that would be very isolating. Texting & emailing isn't the same as human contact. I also have a 4G phone.
Radio & TV are my windows on the world. I have a Kindle, but have to admit I still prefer books. Technology allows me to be selective, so I rarely watch live TV, preferring a PVR recording instead. Currently my Smart TV is proving a bit to difficult for my ageing brain & I can't seem to watch my other TV & record on the new PVR simultaneously.
My kitchen is a marvel of modern appliances despite the fact that, as a single person, I cook from scratch much less than I used to.
Online banking & shopping have changed my life. I was wary at first, but now I wouldn't be without it. Click & Collect it wonderful.
Information, people, the world are all easily accessible. The only downside is that when there are glitches or problems I can't fix them. I need someone who can & that can be expensive.
All in all I think I am probably lucky to be ageing now with all the benefits of technology. It must have been much harder for my parents generation.
Monday, 4 January 2016
The Economics of Perpetual Growth
http://freakonomics.com/2014/01/24/can-economic-growth-continue-forever-of-course/
This is the don't worry scenario - all will be well - carry on spending
http://blogs.reuters.com/macroscope/2011/06/07/must-we-always-try-to-grow-the-economy/
So the real question is, can we use continuous economic growth to make a more equitable world where everyone gets a decent bit of the cake & we don't f...up the planet doing it?
I'm a housewifey sort of mathematician. Perpetual growth doesn't make sense to me. Just look at the number of dead civilisations caused by greed of one sort or another over the millennia. I'm not optimistic, but I'm probably too old for the possible dire consequences to affect me.
My grandchildren may well know the answers to the questions - when it's too late.
This is the don't worry scenario - all will be well - carry on spending
http://blogs.reuters.com/macroscope/2011/06/07/must-we-always-try-to-grow-the-economy/
So the real question is, can we use continuous economic growth to make a more equitable world where everyone gets a decent bit of the cake & we don't f...up the planet doing it?
I'm a housewifey sort of mathematician. Perpetual growth doesn't make sense to me. Just look at the number of dead civilisations caused by greed of one sort or another over the millennia. I'm not optimistic, but I'm probably too old for the possible dire consequences to affect me.
My grandchildren may well know the answers to the questions - when it's too late.
Saturday, 2 January 2016
Obsessive Compulsive Clearing Out
It's an annual disease which always arrives at this time of year. I don't wait for Spring. Why waste lovely Spring days going through all the dross you have collected over the year when you can do it on a wet, grey day in January which is not fit for anything else?
What I don't understand, considering this is a repeated infection over many years, is how I've still got piles of stuff to give / throw away. Do I suddenly morph into a more discriminating person? Have I lost / gained that much weight in a year? Surely my tastes don't change that much? Where does all the paperwork to shred come from? If I can cheerfully get rid of it all now, why did I keep it in the first place?
I started at the top of the house, so the spare bedroom is cleared & fit for human habitation. I found some things I have been looking for for ages. (A ferrule for the bottom of my walking stick for one - Very useful as I'm still doing my Long John Silver impression).
In the spirit of being organised for 2016 & recognising that there isn't going to be a sudden Damascene conversion to a person with a reliable memory, I'm writing what is where in a little notebook. I'm also considering writing a list to go inside each door / drawer, (but that does seem a touch too obsessive). I could do a database, (but that's really going too far).
The truly perplexing thing is that I am a single person living in a 5 bedroom house. I have already moved house & downsized my stuff drastically twice. I have given away van loads of stuff over the last 12 years.
How can we all accumulate so much? Why do we do it? What does it say about us? We can't take any of it with us when we "depart this mortal coil".
I think my next blog is going to have to be about the ridiculous premise of perpetual growth driven by consumer spending & debt on which Western countries fiscal policy is based.
What I don't understand, considering this is a repeated infection over many years, is how I've still got piles of stuff to give / throw away. Do I suddenly morph into a more discriminating person? Have I lost / gained that much weight in a year? Surely my tastes don't change that much? Where does all the paperwork to shred come from? If I can cheerfully get rid of it all now, why did I keep it in the first place?
I started at the top of the house, so the spare bedroom is cleared & fit for human habitation. I found some things I have been looking for for ages. (A ferrule for the bottom of my walking stick for one - Very useful as I'm still doing my Long John Silver impression).
In the spirit of being organised for 2016 & recognising that there isn't going to be a sudden Damascene conversion to a person with a reliable memory, I'm writing what is where in a little notebook. I'm also considering writing a list to go inside each door / drawer, (but that does seem a touch too obsessive). I could do a database, (but that's really going too far).
The truly perplexing thing is that I am a single person living in a 5 bedroom house. I have already moved house & downsized my stuff drastically twice. I have given away van loads of stuff over the last 12 years.
How can we all accumulate so much? Why do we do it? What does it say about us? We can't take any of it with us when we "depart this mortal coil".
I think my next blog is going to have to be about the ridiculous premise of perpetual growth driven by consumer spending & debt on which Western countries fiscal policy is based.
Wednesday, 30 December 2015
New Years Revolution
Looking back, as we tend to do at this time of year, I realise that I have always been a rebel or reformer, (put kindly) or a bit B..... minded, (possibly more accurate). But, and its a big but, I have also always wanted to please & put others first. I was " seen and not heard" as a child. I suspect the conflict between the two has lurked throughout my life, but it is the way girls of my generation were brought up. I was once analysed on a senior management course & the dichotomy was pointed out.
Anyway I'm going to rebel - (I think) - If I can do it without hurting people's feelings. Tact was never a strong point, so this might prove difficult. I think when you know the oblivion taxi is waiting you are entitled to be a little selfish. I'm going to try to do what I want for a change.
It's not that I want to do anything drastic - I've already crammed a lot of experiences into my life. It's more about not doing things I don't really enjoy. We all compromise to some extent - with our parents, our partners, our children, our friends & relatives, our neighbours. It's how a civilised society works. But I think I have always put my own needs & desires at the bottom of the list. It's time to learn how to say "no" without harm.
I don't like:-
It has struck me that I should enjoy my remaining years & not waste a moment on doing something I don't want to. Life should be a balance between fun & necessity. Up till now I think I've had too much of the latter. Must aim for more FUN.
Anyway I'm going to rebel - (I think) - If I can do it without hurting people's feelings. Tact was never a strong point, so this might prove difficult. I think when you know the oblivion taxi is waiting you are entitled to be a little selfish. I'm going to try to do what I want for a change.
It's not that I want to do anything drastic - I've already crammed a lot of experiences into my life. It's more about not doing things I don't really enjoy. We all compromise to some extent - with our parents, our partners, our children, our friends & relatives, our neighbours. It's how a civilised society works. But I think I have always put my own needs & desires at the bottom of the list. It's time to learn how to say "no" without harm.
I don't like:-
- Doing nothing. I've always been very active & task oriented.
- Sitting or standing for a long time.
- Big "Do's". I enjoy talking to people and being able to hear what they say. Otherwise what's the point? Now I'm partly deaf it's even worse.
- Superficial or one sided conversations. I've never been any good at "working the room".
- A lot of noise. Ditto No 3 bullet point. Music in shops drives me potty - I can't think.
- Christmas 2015 style - Rampant consumerism.
- "Stuff" - I don't really need anything. I'm trying to simplify my life.
- Interesting people & places.
- Children - (reasonably well behaved & in moderation).
- Learning new things.
- New experiences.
- Old friends.
- Good food - but not too much of it.
- A good white wine.
- Reading a good book / Watching a good TV programme, film or play / Listening to music, (of my choice).
It has struck me that I should enjoy my remaining years & not waste a moment on doing something I don't want to. Life should be a balance between fun & necessity. Up till now I think I've had too much of the latter. Must aim for more FUN.
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