Scandanavia I - Tour de Lounge

Phew! After the usual packing (and organising the homestead for our holiday absence) foray into the wee small hours - it was going so well too,way ahead until yesterdays lunch out! We are on holiday!

Thus far like some bad dream in which you are chased we have stayed ahead of the volcanic ash cloud. Like the dream though we keep stopping and looking behind. As we have a fear that plans may be compromised we have decided to start the trip with a Tour de Star Alliance airport lounges.

One of the spin offs from spending so much time in an airplane is the accumulation of frequent flyer points and with those the ability to access Star Alliance lounges.

First up this morning was the lounge in Edinburgh airport during this stay we had some cornflakes and a cup of tea and enjoyed the early morning calm. One eye on the telly and the latest cloud update.

On arrival in London Heathrow with a longish stop we have hit the BMI Great Britain lounge in all it's black and muted tones glory. There are various zones for you to inhabit depending on your mood and purpose.

There is the bar area for those whose day perhaps did not include the landing of that lucrative contract. It's not in the bottom of the glass either, mate.

Then we have desks cut and pasted from a University library it looks like. Self contained behind glass walls it gives the impression of an isolation area but without the bio-hazard materials.

The kitchen diner with it's mock Aga looks functional and promising however as it's breakfast it's either croissant or porridge. No sign of the much vaunted soup and sandwiches.




We are cosseted in the living room or lounge if you are posh with it's sofas and easy chairs. Finally in this lounge you have recliners and chaise lounge affairs the latter being hidden behind the mosquito curtains?



Perhaps the whole place moonlights as a medical clinic for tropical diseases?

On with the odyssey and to terminal 3 still with lots of time to spare. First of all we visited the Singapore Airlines lounge and luckily there were two of us, overcrowding not an issue here.



I can only assume that the Singapore flights are later on. Sarnies and salads just coming out here so a smallness of food just to tick the engine over, washed down with some fizzy pop.

The entrance way is quite attractive but the constant sound that the "wall" emits of running water would have you constantly needing to "go"!




Final leg coming up with a visit at the SAS/Air Canada lounge plenty of comfy and functional seating for the relax, work or eat brigades. There was also a little glass room for people who've been bad perhaps?



These places seem built with a design eye looking to Ikea as many of the chairs, sofas and table look very familiar.My Swedish holiday starting early with some pre arrival indoctrination.

In Sweden everything is pine the chairs, tables and even the people look hewn from pine - tall and blonde.
After our wanderings time to lunch - soup, salads and other num nums. No sandwiches more of a smorgasbord vibe going on here.



I decided on a soup and salad combo that will keep me happy until I leave the long ship in the land of Ikea.
Hopefully though I will be as relaxed and peaceful as this chap and his " brothers" who adorn the walls of the business working zone now that would be a great holiday!





- Post From My iPhone

Dinner

Like many of you I like picking things up from the supermarket in the hope that some imaginative spark will lead to the ingredients in the trolly transforming with some effort into something tasty.

Tonight was one such occasion the trolley trundled round powered by Fegrig power. As I was on my own there was noone to push me! Strolling around the aisles I ticked off the items on the shopping wish list. I soon came to my favourite part of the supermarket the reduced section. You know the part of the shelves either chilled or not where all the soon to be thrown out food stuff lie enticingly price reduced. Just waiting for some love and attention.

Sitting there was an abundance of fish pieces - salmon, haddock, cod all prepared for a pie, in the trolley they went and on I walked thinking what to do with them.

After a while I returned to this section as I had also spotted but dismissed the idea of putting the packet of rice noodles in beside the fish. An idea was beginning to take shape.

Later on in the kitchen the supplies were taken out of the fridge and cupboards. Mushrooms chopped, carrots shaved and then these were sauteed in some butter. A bit further in red pepper and peas were added. Then a good amount of fish stock to submerge the veg and the fish that had now been added to the pot. Some Chinese spice and some chilli oil were added for seasoning and everything was left to gently simmer whilst the noodles were prepared.

The lightly flash fried rice noodles were placed in the base of the deep bowl before the fish soup broth was ladled on top.

The result was well received and there was even some left for lunch tomorrow. Not bad for a raid on the unloved shelves.

The photo perhaps does not do the dish justice but it was tastey and due to it's origins a pretty cheap and filling meal.


Sent from my iPhone


-- Post From My iPhone

Working?

I've been away from the lap top for a while and usually rely on a blog application to write and post to the blog. The last few days however the app has been broken and of no use. I've jiggled about with it and am now


typing this as a new post in the hope that it will work.
Fingers crossed.....


-- Post From My iPhone

How do you like your eggs, Prime Minister?

So I've been sitting since last night with posts written on the phone yet still they sit like some laid egg, waiting to hatch. Not only has the egg been laid it's like it's been deposited not in the nesting box but somewhere inaccessible tantalisingly close but just out of reach. Such it is with my phone based blog posts.

When the send now option is pressed it conjugates for a bit and then up comes the box containing the message

"Failed, seems your network is not ready for posting"

You have the option to send again of course but again up come the message. I think I will blame the media in the UK who have sucked all free Internet space in their rush to analyse, report and speculate on the ongoing political discussions.

Like the Westminster machinations normal service will hopefully return soon.

So there you have it eggs laid but sitting waiting to be cracked open and enjoyed.

Election, reflection

It's done for another....well as far as the UK election is concerned who knows, discussions are afoot. In Scotland we shall have the Scottish Parliamentary elections within a year and the whole thing will have started again, the process of electing your representatives.

I got a bit more involved this year in the election process and it was interesting, amusing and something I will do more of - that's all the boxes ticked at the bottom of the post!

There was the knocking on doors and politely enquiring where the person on the other side of the door was considering placing their vote. In our neck of the woods this was a largely positive experience with the question being met by smiles, some with grudging agreement but that is democracy. There were those who shared other political allegiances and thoughtfully some stopped you traipsing up their path with a "don't bother we support the other team".

Surprisingly there were a number of voters of both sexes who would wait on their spouses to decide before they decided where to exercise their franchise. Glad to see that sexual equality extends across another area of life.

The day when perhaps too few people decided to tackle too many doors. Fine when in shorts and a t-shirt, hat and sunglasses oh and suitable footwear. Less so when you have not changed from the work uniform of suit, smart shoes and a discarded tie. The freckles got a lot of encouragement that day.

Another day resulted in me (much more suitably dressed this time) becoming very familiar with a local townlet - too small for a town but too big for a village, as I delivered bundles of personally addressed literature. A pedometer is an essential tool in the democratic process.

Walking around you also observe how residents deal with a variety of every day nuisances. In this case the perpetual numbers of plastic charity sacks put through your letter box requesting clothes and other no longer required paraphernalia. This particular home owner had obviously had enough and placed these bags on their property in some primeval warning.

"My land, no charity bag pushers are safe!!!"



I suppose it is less attractive to carrion and vermin and less troublesome than actually beheading the charity bag pusher?

The logistics of things as you stomp around the doors and streets of the constituency soon became clear to the newbie that I was. Toilet stops, where can you get a drink and then naturally your mind turns again to toilet stops! In the end I became some Dr Moreau like genetic experiment of a camel and a lizard. Neither drinking or losing fluid.

The placing of the election boards was also a new challenge and part of the Olympic ideal of "Faster, Higher and Stronger" came to the fore here as our boards had to be higher than the opposition.



This one was not too high but at one point I perhaps was a bit too over zealous in my approach as I turned to look at the double decker bus passing by to be met eye to eye by the gaze of passengers on the top deck probably wondering if I needed crampons and oxygen or a safety net.

The day of the election came and proudly we escorted the next generation to the voting station.This was the first time all four of us had trooped along to perform our democratic right.


A proud Mother and two candidates of the Smiley Party wait to persuade voters to support them promising free tooth paste and brushes along with cut price orthodontic work.

The paper was given out and perused

One cross was deployed and into the box it went.

A few hours later I was involved in scrutinising the counting of the votes, no pictures of that. A different perspective as you would expect from the dissociated view one has over the reporters shoulder on election broadcast TV. Here though is an image of the candidates and their representatives studying the spoilt papers.


A variety of spoiling tactic was employed the non committal blank with nothing anywhere, the multi cross approach and the popular there is no space to write but I'll squash my words in anyhow as espoused by ranters anonymous. Democracy is indeed a wonderful thing allowing such dissatisfaction. In some places these people would be identified and imprisoned, perhaps in "No! charity plastic bag pusher land"?

Finally with all votes counted, scrutinised and bundled the candidates are called forward and the result publicly declared.

The winner and the vanquished.

Do you remember.....

The time when there was a daily newspaper printed overnight ready to be bought on the way to work? Or perhaps the local evening paper you read on the bus as you traveled home possibly in time to watch the six o'clock news on TV.

If you missed the "6" you might be able to watch the later evening edition before brushing your teeth, getting into your PJ's and going to bed. In bed you might have listened to the 2 minute radio news on the hour just before you closed your peepers for the night.

None of this nowadays it's the age of the 24 hour news cycle. At least three constantly running news channels, news radio 24/7, internet news chugging like some unstoppable mass of information. Twitter updates as news hounds micro blog, RSS feeds depositing the latest news item to your in box. The only thing that has changed is that the printed media is slowly drying up their purpose being surpassed by their newer, younger siblings. Their traditional role as wrapping for your fish n' chips also having gone by the wayside.

I don't mind the 24/7 approach most of the time but just now it is driving me mad, the reason the ongoing political uncertainty in the UK post election. With the political parties deep in discussion (like some shy first date participants deciding whether they should go to home base or stay at holding hands). The news media wheel round the "experts", ask the same questions, run the same video tape and jump on any new rumour, comment or sighting like a hungry cat on a lazy mouse. All in the pursuit of news.

If you turn the channel over to something else you feel safe and then buzz as something comes through to your mobile phone this having been binged by some feed or other. This is progress I suppose the idea that the world can become increasingly better by utilising technology.

I can only hope that those involved in the discussions have not been entrapped in the news cycle and are pursuing progress from a social perspective, improving society through political structures now that would be news worthy of 24/7 coverage?