Vee’s speech in Czech
June 30th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
A couple of weeks ago, I did a blog posting about the visit by my wife Vee and me to Pardubice in the Czech Republic to attend a an air display where she was awarded a medal to commemorate the wartime exploits of her father Flight Lieutenant Karel Kuttelwascher DFC & Bar.
I reported that bravely she made a short speech in Czech and now you can view it here.
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My offer to become a London Ambassador (4)
June 28th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
As I have reported in previous postings, I have applied to become a London Ambassador for the 2012 Olympic Games – but my interview is not till the beginning of August. In today’s “Guardian” newspaper, there’s an article by some else who has applied.
It seems as if, of the 33,000 people who originally registered, 16,000 have made it to the interview stage they’re expecting to take on 12,000 Ambassadors. I’ll know in November whether I’ve been selected.
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The First Amendment and the Supreme Court (1)
June 27th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
The combination has just blocked the state of Arizona’s effort to combat the influence of money in elections – see here.
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)
The First Amendment and the Supreme Court (2)
June 27th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
The combination has just blocked the state of California’s effort to block the sale of violent video games to minors – see here.
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)
1,000 days of Consumer Focus
June 27th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
As the Chief Executive of the organisation Mike O’Connor has highlighted in a note to all staff, today marks 1,000 days since Consumer Focus was created on 1 October 2008. For me , it is an even longer association, since I joined the Consumer Focus Board upon its creation in January 2008 and I was on the Council of one of its predecessor organisations Postwatch.
The Government wishes to close Consumer Focus and transfer most of its functions to Citizens Advice and it is currently consulting on how this might be done. But such a transfer will not occur until at least April 2013 and meanwhile the staff are doing a great job in promoting the interests of UK consumers. I really enjoy working with such talented and motivated staff.
Posted in Consumer matters | Comments (0)
The irritation of travel announcements
June 27th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
In the last couple of weeks, I’ve travelled to Oxford, Bristol, Manchester and Derbyshire – all by train. So I have considerable sympathy with David Marsh who explains in this article his objections to the strange language used in rail announcements.
It’s not only the words that are used for travel announcements; it’s also the way those words are delivered. For some reason, the sentences are pronounced in an undulating, sing-song fashion, totally unlike normal conversation. And it’s not just rail announcements; the same experience is to be found on the London Underground and on airlines.
I picked up on this irritating phenomenon at the beginning of my short story “Coming In To Land”.
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (0)
The amazing art of Ben Wilson
June 26th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
It was my birthday this weekend (thanks …) and I celebrated by going out for dinner with friends in Muswell Hill in north London. As we walked back from the restaurant, a piece of chewing gum on the pavement was pointed out to me as a strange work of art.
The artist is a guy called Ben Wilson and his fame has recently spread to an article in the “New York Times”. You can see samples of his bizarre work here.
Posted in Cultural issues, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
A review of “The Shallows”
June 26th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
Is Google making us stupid? That was the headline for an article in 2008 which became a book in 2010 which I have reviewed here.
Posted in Cultural issues, Internet | Comments (0)
Where do four states or four countries meet?
June 25th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
I recently read about a location in the United States called Four Corners Monument. This is the only place in the United States where four states intersect at one point: Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado. It’s very remote and I’m not planning to visit it.
There’s another spot on the globe where the boundaries of four countries meet and I have been there. It’s in the middle of water and unmarked. It is actually at the confluence of the Zambezi River and the Chobe River and, at a point in the middle of the river, the borders of Zambia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Namibia all meet.
I used this latter location as the starting point for one of my 27 short stories called “An African Adventure”.
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (3)
Forgotten World (245): U.S. Virgin Islands
June 23rd, 2011 by Roger Darlington
The Virgin Islands are divided between Britain (the eastern 36) and the United States (the western 53 of which only three are inhabited). The US Virgin Islands with a population (a total of only 113,000) are St Thomas, St John and St Croix.
Motor vehicles are driven on the left-hand side of the road in both the British and the U.S. Virgin Islands, although the steering wheels on most cars are located on the left side (as is the norm for drive-on-the-right localities). Also, the United States dollar is the official currency on both the British and U.S. Virgin Islands.
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)