Satnavs discouraged

One of the (possibly) rare occasions that technological advancement having worsening effect.

Road signs warn drivers to ignore satnav

The first official road signs to warn drivers about the dangers of trusting their satellite navigation devices have been introduced in a Welsh village.

The signs, implemented by authorities in rural St Hilary, in the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales, to warn drivers about placing too much faith in the directional gadgets, could be brought in across the country if the trial is successful.

Problems were reported after foreign drivers found it difficult to understand phrases such as “unsuitable for heavy goods vehicles” but could understand pictorial notices.

Say goodbye to the Tomtom now.

(Article linked and excerpts lifted from PC Pro)

My luggage stigma

It happens for every other trip I take — especially business trips. And always with a flight with or associated with British Airways. Pure coincidence or not, it happens and there is no sound explanation to why it does.

I made sure, when I checked in my luggage at Gatwick airport, that it was tagged properly with my name and the correct destination. There was a slight concern over the fact that I am making a layover at Barbados and flying with a different airline — Liat — to Georgetown, Guyana. I was assured at Gatwick that my bag will make it all the way through to my final destination as BA and Liat have an agreement with regards to baggage handling.

So why was my luggage missing when I arrived at Georgetown? No explanation.

Giro Italia 0: The layover

Getting to Italy was not as direct as I had hoped for when I booked the award flights. We had to have a short layover in Paris to catch our flight to Milan Linate. It struck me as the plane was taxi-ing to the gate that it had been 10 years or so since I last set foot on Charles de Gaulle airport. That is all because I go on the Eurostar if I had to go to the French capital! Anyway, it was bigger and oh yes, far better than crummy Heathrow. As far back as I remember, the most “modern” style was the criss-crossing set of escalators covered by a transparent ceiling. However, we didn’t go through those so I don’t know if they are still there.

SkyTeam Alliance

As smoking (not for me!) is only allowed outside of the terminals, we spent most of our layover there and I played around with my camera for some interesting subjects. I took one of the control tower because it resembled those alien spaceships featured in Men in Black. But they look far too boring for me to show them to you. What I spent most time perfecting — although it is far from perfect — is this picture of a plastic container with blue liquid in it.

Blue liquid

Security was not that different from London airports. Only 1 hand luggage, which should fit in the thingy. No liquids more than 100ml are allowed. You can purchase them after you go through the checks. Cheeky way to make you buy another bottle of water, which we did. We had to down the remaining litre or so that we bought from Heathrow at the queue.

Perhaps the most impressive part of CDG for me was the gates area. It was dome-like with metal lattice-frames, which looks similar to Hong Kong airport! As the flight was already boarding when we got there, this was the only shot that we had.

CDG gates

Dare I say it? Yes, I like CDG. Only the 2nd thing I like about Paris. First one being the Eiffel, of course. Sheesh, I’m so predictable!

Next: Arriving in style

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