Saturday, September 20, 2008

Off to Las Vegas soon



Yes this is 'Number 1 Son' - aka Sergio - and Serge and a variety of other names too, if truth be known! He still lives in England as his business is based there, but his work involves a bit of 'globe trotting' too. (Lucky 'whatsit').

His 'lady' is Lyndsey a lovely girl, but I don't know how she puts up with him most of the time...

They don't get many holidays due to his work load, but in a few days time he's taking her off to Las Vegas (last New Year it was Osaka and Tokyo and they both fell in love with the country).


They hope to 'do' the Grand Canyon flight/visit during their stay. I think my stories about my flight and visit spurred them to do the same. For those of you who have done it, I think you'll agree - they won't be disappointed.

As I mentioned - 'he' is one of my favourite people. We don't live in each other's pockets, but he remains, not just my only son, but my best friend too. Gone are the days when every time he phoned I would wonder 'how much this time'....(sound familiar? hahahaha). But all parents go through that I s'pose. It's a risk we all take. We've now got to the stage where he phones and asks ME if I need anything. Well. thank you very much...I can live with a son like that!

But being a parent these days must be a nightmare. From where I stand I see many youngsters in the UK who seem to be totally out of control. They have little or no respect for other's property or for
others lives either.

I can remember when the new fangled law about not being allowed to hit your child was introduced. I found it surprising, but maybe it was necessary. As a parent I knew exactly the difference between a correctional slap and an abusive beating. But the authorities felt that parents weren't capable of knowing the difference. I clearly remember the first time I had occasion to slap (once, but heavily) my son following that legislation (he was in his late teens), and he was brave enough to answer the slap with "You're not allowed to do that - I'm going to report you, so there!" Great, I said - I opened the front door and told him to go to the Police Station in the next road and do it! Of course he didn't... But I never had need to smack/hit him again.


I had always been in favour of doing away with conscription, but the years have made me reconsider that belief... Conscription should be brought back, but for both boys AND girls above 18years of age!

Thursday, September 18, 2008

PET LOVES - Debs loves Lake Como!


Now since we are somewhat on the topic of Italy, I must tell you what I think about a certain topic-Lake Como!!

I Love Lake Como...
Since our return from our wonderful visit, that's all we seem to talk about. Yes, one could say it's because it's still fresh in our minds and that the memory will soon become distant and we'll be back to our day to day grind forgetting about it all...but I'm happily afraid, that's not the case.
This recent visit was like falling in love again...we got that "feeling" again--the one that says, this feels like were we should be..where we'd like to be for the rest of our lives..it's a place that sort of haunts you once you leave it, a ghost of sorts calling you back to return to it over and over again.Sounds like I'm being a romantic I know ...but it truly is all we think it is and more.
So we need to return again for good because Joe and I have as I've said, fallen quite in love.

One more thing...without our beloved "head dork" being there,the story would have quite a different ending...

Debs, the dorkette
xo

The 'Alitalia' fiasco!




I'm not going to apologise for saying that Alitalia, it's management, it's unions and the majority if it's staff deserve all they get (or don't get).


They have treated their paying customers (of which I was one - years ago) like dirt for too long. Their attitude has always been "Well, if you don't like it - VFnC (Italian for 'go elsewhere....')!!!" - Well the public didn't like it, and over the years voted with their feet, and their anger - 'off to fly with other decent customer orientated airlines'.

This malais is,
I'm afraid, inherent in the Italian psyche. Their belief is (and it's often so TRUE) that if they are a 'State Employee' they cannot be fired. They have a job for life irrespective of how they perfom that job. The unions have supported this stance for decades and now it seems that there is nowhere to go for the Alitalia employees. They've been hoisted by their own petard.

The choices they had were two as I see it:
1. To accept that a certain % will no longer have a job, but the remaining percentage % would.
OR
2. Ensure that their unions do not give in and that Alitalia is no more and dies NOW...

Well it seems that the majority have chosen option 2! The pilots and cabin crew are not willing to give up (what they finally admit exists) those 'special considerations' that were the 'perks of the job'!

Great!!! Good decision!!! (NOT!) So now not only won't
you have a job, but in all probability your country won't have it's own airline either...

They should be ashamed of themselves!


But as an aside - Have you never thought why years ago the Italians began the habit of applauding when an aircraft landed safely?

It's obvious - they are thankful that at least the pilots did some work during the flight!

Nice to see you!

How do I start a new 'blog'?

Well I s'pose the first task is to welcome you. So -

HELLO AND WELCOME
(who ever you are)
TO "DORK LAND"


Well that's the preliminaries out of the way, so let's get down to the nitty gritty. I guess you're wondering why I've started this blog - right?

It's quite simple really, I have longed for a place where I can express my pleasure AND voice my dissatisfaction on the way the world treats me and everyone else!

  • A place where I can voice that pleasure when something nice happens to me or out there in the world, and where others can join in too with their 'two cent's' worth.
  • A place where I can have a good laugh at ANYTHING I find daft and which amuses me - and where others can join in the laughter and (hopefully) add to it...
  • A place where I can get on my damned soap box if I want to to voice my opinions on a variety of injustices that affect me and others!

So that's the idea and I hope you'll add your own two cent's (or tuppence) worth too...