Category Archives: A Traveller’s Life

Postcard from…Nuremberg

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When last I tap-tap-tapped away, I promised you some visual splendors from Nuremberg where I was fortunate enough to be for work last week. Nuremberg is probably not a common tourist destination but its old town is architecturally gorgeous in that medieval way that this area of Europe seems to do so very well.

Nuremberg is, for most of us, most commonly linked with the activities of the Nazis during WWII, being the location chosen by the Nazi Party for the Nuremberg rallies and then later the site of the most famous war crimes trials in modern history. But it is a city with a long and intricate history. Founded at the turn of the 11th century, Nuremberg’s importance as a location along key trade routes grew until the late 1500s. During this period, Nuremberg was known as the ‘unofficial capital’ of the Holy Roman Empire and in the 15th and 16th centuries, Nuremberg was also considered to be the centre of the German Rennaissance.

The Kaiserberg stands high overlooking the town and it was here that all of the German Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire resided at one time or another. This Imperial Castle is the symbol of Nuremberg and is deemed to be one of the most important palaces of the Middle Ages.

Photo source: www.nuernberg.de

We were lucky enough to be entertaining our customers here and so I was able to get some amazing snaps of the views over Nuremberg.

The Holy Chapel, just off the main hall…
…where we dined in splendor.

As with all good trips to Germany, we also managed some dining of the less formal kind and I can report that there was much sausage and dumpling eating, beer drinking and generally sociable behaviour amongst we good folk. Here’s a sampler from our excursion into Central Nuremberg for sausages earlier in the week:

A pre-dinner cocktail of Raspberry and Cassis

A rather unusual display of canapes
The empty sausage platter was pushed aside while my colleague ate every piece of dragon fruit in sight

The end of the week saw it down to just two of us who had stayed on to tidy up so to celebrate the end of a successful week, we headed off to Peruvian restaurant (as one does in downtown Nuremberg) El Encanto. The ambience may have been a little lacklustre…

El Encanto – made up for its lack of ambience with amazing food
…but the food was so good (avocado and tomato salad, dumplings and then fish for main – completely scrumptious) and the cocktails so forthcoming, I forgot to take another picture until the funky teaset came out at the end.

Saturday morning arrived and I packed up my things and headed off to the station for the fastest-train-in-Germany (300km/hr) trip back to Munich to connect with my flight. But after the reasonably balmy temperatures of the week, I was little under-dressed for the bone-chilling air on the platform…

Even that front pigeon looks cold!

…so it was with delight that I finally climbed on board the carriage, sank into my seat and soothed by the high speed whirr of the train, let myself alternate between dozing in the warmth and simply watching the world go by.


Travel Broadens The Mind…The Euro Zone

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I’ve been a Travelling Wilbury again peeps and this week’s expedition found me in Nuremberg, Germany. While there hasn’t been much of an opportunity to sightsee, I’ll be sharing some spectacular pics and a brief highlights package when next I put fingers to keyboard.  But in the meantime, I’ve been browsing BA’s business:life magazine to see what’s new in the world of fascinating facts.
Having been in Germany this week, it seems only appropriate to make a start with the locals so according to USwitch/WHO, 66.5% of Germans are overweight, making them the fattest nation in Europe. Must be all that beer and sausage. 
Not to be outdone, Britons holidaying in France gain an average of 7.3lbs over a fortnight (cheese and wine related methinks) and 6% of Scottish high street shops are takeaway food outlets (I suspect the heady delights of deep fried Mars Bars come in here somewhere). But 82% of Spanish holidaymakers say they can’t live without herbal teabags and 63% of Spanish women are dissatisfied with their lives. Let me see, cheese and wine or herbal teabags. Seems a pretty simple equation to me. Attendez-moi, s’il vous plait!
Speaking of holidays, did you know that Irish workers get the lowest holiday entitlement in Europe (29 days)? There’s clearly so much to be done harvesting potatoes, making widget-induced alcohol, marketing expensive glass crystal and encouraging gullible visitors to their fair isle to hang upside down and plant their smackers on some old stone. Spare a thought for the less diligent Swedes and Portugese who enjoy a further 10 days left to their own devices. 
On second thoughts, it probably takes an extra 10 days per annum to assemble flat pack furniture so I think we are down to the Portugese as the most relaxed nation in Europe.
As a single gal, it would be remiss of me not to include a couple of key insights into the European singles scene. Lucky for me, 60% of men across Britain, France, Spain and Italy (as well as the US and Brazil) say they prefer brunettes. And 73% of British singletons seeking a partner rate a good sense of humour as a must-have trait. 
(Note to self: dark and funny, dark and funny, dark and funny. Repeat such affirmation each morning while wondering whether to pluck irreverent silver threads from my still largely brunette barnet.)
And last but certainly not least, it’s back to the green and slightly drizzly isle of Great Britain. In typical understated British style, without boasting, shouting or any remote sense of preening, I was informed by a soundbite in the magazine sidebar that Cambridge is the top university in the world. So it would appear that that unique blend of British intelligence and Victorian modesty is alive and well and did not disappear with Mr Humphreys being free to stroke Mrs Slocombe’s pussy.
But I also learnt that one fifth of British people do not know a dairy cow is a female. So maybe the world’s best is just ‘keeping its powder dry’ and we shall see cleverness unleashed in it’s finest form on University Challenge. 
 
Or maybe they are just otherwise engaged training for next year’s boat race.
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For more fascinating conversation starters for your next cocktail soiree or dinner party, check out my other Travel Broadens The Mind posts:
You’ll never be lost for words again.

View Of A Bridge…Can’t Take Any More

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Gidday peeps!

Firstly, apologies if any of you received random emails ‘from me’ over the last 24 hours or so. A small hacking escapade has successfully been stymied and fingers crossed someone’s on-line joy-ride has been brought to an end.

So, after a brief blog interlude, we are back in Prague, city of 1000 spires and the not inconsiderable Charles Bridge. Stretching over the Vltava River, Karluv Most (as it is known to the locals) was commissioned in the 14th century by Charles IV and joins the Old Town with the Little Quarter. It is 520m long, could originally accommodate four carriages across and is touted in every tourist guide as ‘not to be missed’. Which made me desperately want to resist planning to see it. I know. It’s perverse.

On the evening of Day 1, I fell across it from a slightly down river vantage point. 

Remember the postcard shot from Prague Post Number 2?

Feeling distinctly unimpressed by the Bridge itself, I decided to spend Saturday (Day 2) exploring Prague Castle and surrounds (which could constitute a whole other post but I am unsure as to how much Prague overkill you will allow yourself to be subjected to). The views are absolutely stunning from the top and the Bridge even managed a cameo in one of several panorama shots.

The rooftops of Prague with Charles Bridge, Old Town Tower and on the horizon, the spires of St Ludmila’s

After several wonderful hours, I found myself descending to the cobbled streets of the Little Quarter where lo and behold, I fell across the Bridge again.

Charles Bridge Little Quarter Tower and entrance

There seemed nothing for it but to surrender to its call but as I passed through the archway, I noticed an ad for river cruises – weary and footsore by this stage, I was an easy mark for any seated distractions so I decided that this would be pleasant way to spend an hour. I even got a couple of Bridge shots in for good measure.

Charles Bridge before cruising beneath it…
…and after.
After the cruise had returned me to the shore, I did actually make it onto the Bridge but the Saturday crowds were out in force and it was not conducive to any sort of meandering or photo-taking. So I just went with the throng and made directly for the other side, determined to try again tomorrow.
Busy crowds heading for the Old Town on Charles Bridge

Tomorrow came all too quickly (as it always does when one is on holiday) and after spending a rather sobering morning in the Jewish Quarter, I ambled along more cobbled streets to find myself on the banks of the Vltava again but this time at the Manusov Bridge, a perfect vantage point for another go at capturing that other Bridge in all its glory.

View of Charles Bridge from Manusov Bridge
‘It’s my last day’, I thought to myself. ‘I cannot visit Prague having only had a cursory dash across’. And so began my purposeful stroll towards the Bridge’s Little Quarter Tower.
Others clearly had similar stirrings…

Charles Bridge Little Quarter – are we there yet?

But finally I found myself ON THE BRIDGE.

The triumphant Tower shot which means…
…I am finally standing on The Bridge – with elbow room to spare!

Leaning over the Bridge I could see crowds gathered for a puppet show in the square below…

…but let’s not get sidetracked. I am finally on The Bridge so let’s turn our attention to it!

The Bridge is famous for its ‘avenue’ of mostly baroque statues. There are MANY statues (well thirty actually which is quite a lot for any bridge), all in various stages of dis/repair. Frankly after the first few, I got a little bored with the details and did not photograph them – I managed three and the one below is the best of those. If you are more interested and want the full run down, you can click here.

The Bridge is also a central point for entertainers and stall holders eager to take a few crowns from gullible generous tourists – here are a few of my favourites:

Ingenuity Czech-style
This one was particularly cute
These guys drew quite a crowd and much applause after each number

 Before I knew it the arch through to the Old Town beckoned.

Charles Bridge Tower – Old Town

  And with the Bridge finally behind me, I snapped a picture of it’s namesake…
Statue of Charles IV in Knights of the Cross Square as you leave the Bridge

 …before turning to see the sign opposite.

Do you think they mean that infernal Bridge?

So that’s The Bridge post done and definitely dusted. If you are interested in checking out my previous Prague posts – and a big thank you to those of you that have – I’ve included a handy list below for you:

Prague Preview: Just A Peek
Prague…The Accidental Tourist (Trail)

They may just whet your appetite enough to inspire a visit.

Or not.

Prague…The Accidental Tourist (Trail)

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When I travel somewhere for the first time, I am often torn between being supremely organised in what I want to see/do versus leaving myself free to soak up whatever comes along. Which invariably means I end up with a mix of the two. With other places I’ve visited, I have had a far better sense of their history so I must admit to feeling at a bit of a crossroads when I arrived in a gloriously sunny Prague on Friday afternoon – to plan or not to plan, that was the question!

But not wanting to waste time reading about it in my hotel room (which was rather lovely by the way), I put a few essentials in my daypack and armed with my new Nikon Coolpix camera (a frantic Amazon purchase the weekend prior upon discovering my trusty 5+ year old Fuji Finepix had died), I set off to roam the streets.

I was staying in a rather lovely part of Prague called Vinohrady (means Vineyard – how apt) which is just on the outskirts of the New Town…

…and is also not very far from Namesti Miru (Peace Square) and my first view of Prague’s many spires and spirited architecture.

My first spires – St Ludmila’s Church in Namesti Miru
Art Nouveau: Vinohrady Theatre and its winged figures, Drama and Opera
The first of MANY photos of random, un-named but pretty buildings

Namesti Miru is also where I learnt the rules about crossing Prague’s streets – the guidebook says that the rules regarding mandatory stopping at crossings are quite recent so it’s best to be on your toes, regardless of the little green man.

You got the Red Man pic becuse I was busy crossing on the green and too scared to stop in the middle.

As I wandered a little down the street I could see this in the distance…

…and being of an inquisitive nature, set my mental compass and began to walk towards it. I got rather close too and but for the sake of this headless man who ‘showed the way’…

…I might never have gotten to the other side to see Wenceslas Square, centre of the Velvet Revolution and the overthrow of Communisim in 1989.

Wenceslas Square – that’s St Wenceslas on the horse with the flag!
The gilded rooftop from afar became The National Museum
Monument to student Jan Palek who, in protest against Communism, burnt himself to death in 1969 (the year I was born!)

I don’t know anything about the Velvet Revolution. I was 20 in 1989 and all I can remember about that year is the coming down of the Berlin Wall (a piece of which stands outside the Imperial War Museum here in London, but I digress). It’s hard to believe that such enormous social change happened in my lifetime without my having a scooby. These are the times when I wonder at how big a place the world is and how little my world is in it.

Anyhow, it seemed that a stroll down this (in)famous square was in order…

A bustling Friday night
More amazing architecture (you saw the Grand Europa Hotel in my previous post)
The doorway to happiness? A modern and slightly jarring touch
Market stalls – souvenirs and sausages galore

 …before leaving the main square to discover some lesser known delights.

This looks like it should be in a Wild West Town somewhere
A weary traveller
More spires against the darkening sky

Suddenly, a sign pointed me towards this archway, promising me passage to Starometske Namesti (or as I’ve now come to know it, the Old Town Square).

So after a quick glance at the stern features of this silent spectator…

Physician Jan Marek

 I entered and emerged to this…a veritable architectural masterclass!

The Astronomical Clock in the Old Town Hall Tower
A mix of Gothic and Renaissance styles carefully restored following the Prague Uprising in 1945.



Monument to Jan Hus and the gothic Our Lady Before Tyn Church



Rococo Kinsky Palace (now an art gallery)
Church of St Nicholas, classic Baroque
A little ‘night’ music

I thought this was as good a place as any to stop and enjoy a few local vittels…

View from my resting point – calm after the bustle of the Square
My first Pilsener
It’s a (red) meaty city is Prague but I managed to find a passable chicken gnocchi on the menu

Feeling replete and relaxed, it was time for more wandering and I decided to explore the streets to the left of my entrance to the Square. I headed back towards the clock, wading through the crowds and wondering why it had gotten so busy. Suddenly the bells above me rang out and the little doors above the clock itself sprang open…

A performance every hour

Enchanted I held my ground amidst the throng, listening to the bells proclaiming the hour across the Square. And then the trumpeter appeared…

He played a little ‘herald’, waved his cape and took a bow on each of the four sides of the tower. Wow – climbing those stairs and trumpeting like that must take some lung power. (Please don’t say he takes the lift and destroy my illusions.)

I tried to find out whether there was any historic significance to this but the ‘best’ I got was ‘it’s just for the tourists’. Illusions destroyed (unless you rekindle these by sharing your own learnings on the matter?)

By this time, it was getting dark-ish and so I decided to head in the general direction of the Vlatava River to catch a glimpse of the Charles Bridge. I went a little off piste and didn’t land right where I thought I would but emerged a little down river to be greeted by this…

Charles Bridge and Prague Castle

There was a part of me that thought ‘don’t take the shot, you have seen it a million times in guidebooks and on postcards’. But the tourist in me just couldn’t help it so I snapped three…before my camera battery died.

So it was time to head along the river and the darkened streets of the New Town back to the hotel…

Fabulous rooms at the Hotel Le Palais

…where I had a long, long bath, unpacked a little, collapsed into that big, big bed and slept like a baby!

If you enjoyed this one, here are my other Prague posts for your leisurely perusal:
Prague Preview…Just A Peek

Prague Preview…Just A Peek

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I went to Prague. Maybe I have mentioned this once or twice in my last two posts (which were about unrelated topics). This is what we in the marketing world call a teaser campaign, a (clever) strategy I employed while wondering madly how to organise all the photos (500+ – gulp!) I took. Suffice to say there is enough for a blog mini-series so what you are about to see is something akin to a trailer.

A short walk from the hotel – Namesti Miru and St Ludmila’s Church
The National Museum overlooking Wenceslas Square
Art Noveau at the Grand Europa Hotel
Hustling and bustling in the Old Town Square
Memorial candles at the Jan Hus monument

Gothic inspiration at St Vitus’s Cathedral 
Standing guard in Golden Lane
Enjoiyng the sunshine on Charles Bridge

If you enjoyed this short peek at Prague, stay tuned…

…there’s plenty more where that came from.

Travel Broadens The Mind…All About The Readies

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Regular Gidday disciples may be expecting some travelling tales to make you green(ish) with envy. But I still have some significant photo culling to do – digital cameras definitely encourage much snap-happy behaviour – so it won’t be the subject of this post. You’ll just have to be patient a little bit longer.

But you know what it means when I do travel don’t you – more facts of life courtesy of BA’s business:life magazine. And this time it’s all about the readies.

So the nitty gritty is this. 20% more needs to be earnt by families this year than last to maintain living standards.

Not the most joyous of equations is it?  But before we despair too much, let’s take a little squiz at where the money is actually going.

Firstly £7.7bn is spent annually by Britons on maintaining their gardens. I can certainly attest to having admired the glory of British gardens since I arrived here in January 2004 so to my way of thinking, this is money well spent.

Next, 12% of British households pay for domestic help. Let’s see: housework vs, well anything else. I think I’ll be helping to push that up to 13%  real soon.

But then we are not watching the pennies everywhere, particularly where the kiddies are concerned with 66% of parents admitting to buying their children clothes they only wear once.  Although let’s face it, Primark stuff doesn’t last much past the first wash.

And how’s this for a kicker. £50m is the annual cost of disposing of junk mail in England. That’s getting rid of all of that mostly useless crap that comes through the mail slot. I recycle mine. Does that make a difference?

They say with age comes wisdom. 20% of UK car owners buy their first soft-top convertible in their 50s. 85% of British women over 50 spend more on their summer holiday wardrobe than they spend on their actual holiday and 71% of British grandparents are on Facebook. Sounds to me like grey power is having all the fun.

But with 6 million Britons having no savings – despite 43% seeking financial advice from family and friends (what does this say about the other 57%?) – and 30% giving investment in shares a wide berth, it’s hard to see how we are ever going to fund these good times of the future.

Just as well 2/3 of households have one or more bicycles and 55% still haven’t visited St Paul’s Cathedral.

I predict a growth in staycations!


Travel Broadens The Mind…Flights Of Fantasy

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As you know, I have been travelling over the last couple of weeks and you know what that means – more of my wry observations on the facts of life according to BA’s business:life magazine! (Calm down peeps, I know you can barely contain your excitement.)

The theme of the June 2011 issue of business:life is ‘If At First You Don’t Succeed…why we all need to fail’.  Whilst I whole-heartedly agree with the sentiment (and in fact, the general tone of the articles), the ‘stats sound bites’ strewn throughout seemed to suggest that perhaps the realms of fantasy are society’s preferred option.

We start with that perennial favourite, the body beautiful.  According to business:life sources, one third of UK women would be prepared to trade at least a year of their life in exchange for an ‘ideal body’.  I have news for them.  Obsessing about the ideal body and what constitutes this has probably shortened their lifespan already.  Particularly since Britons don’t start worrying about their health until aged 39 – I suspect the additional 4 inches around the waistline is probably the first clue.  And then a third think that they will grow their own fruit and veg this summer – a healthy and noble ambition, no less. Does digging up garden beds gone to seed cover the ‘needing to fail’ bit?  Might also count as exercise…two birds with one stone there.
 
Next we take a look at what we’ve been doing other than worrying and planting a few carrots and strawbs – watching telly.  One fifth of Britons have been motivated to start their own business after watching programmes such as Dragon’s Den and The Apprentice. So I have a question – does this mean they actually started a business or just got a nice, warm feeling about it?  Reports that business failures are actually down 7.9% across the UK for Jan/Feb 2011 versus the previous year would appear to be an encouraging sign. However, the Welsh have clearly not been paying attention – with business failures up 23.9%, I suspect that the nice, warm feeling has passed them by.  Although there’s 2.2 million potholes in Britain – perhaps that repesents a business opportunity in the offing or at the very least, an episode of The Apprentice.  Oh, sorry they already have that – when the candidates lug their shovels with them into their interviews and proceed to dig deep, deep, deep holes… 

On the subject of starting one’s own business, 53% of Britain’s entrepreneurs put their success down to their innate talents, rather than learnt skills or education. (Perhaps pot-hole identification is genetic?)  So I ask you this – what are Mums-and-Dads (M-A-D) doing paying squillions for privately educated children (£360,000 apparently) to then attend fee-paying universities?  And then spending an average of £772 to bail their little darlings out on their gap year?  No wonder 38% of Britons would use a discount voucher on a first date and 23% of British readers are attracted to e-books because of the cost.

And as to the value of all this education?  Well, one in five Britons thinks Sherlock Holmes and Miss Marple are historical figures.  I rest my case…

And finally, in light of my re-entry into singledom this year, let’s look to the state of romance here in the UK:

16% of British adults are planning a holiday with their parents this year.

312 is the number of times the average couple argues each year.

72% of young British men never buy flowers for their loved ones.

On the other hand, let’s not.

Goose Steps…

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I have been away at a conference this week in Skanor, a small seaside village in Sweden.  It’s been a busy few days and having never been to any of the Nordic nations before, I was keen to grab a few moments here and there to soak up a bit of the pure Skanor experience.

There was seafood (herrings, roe, salmon, trout, scallops), bread (glorious bread), local jams (including scrumptious raspberry), cheese (for breakfast – yay!) and schnapps (‘local’, lemon and bitter – all lethal to the same degree).  There were games on the beach, meetings not on the beach, much laughing and cheering   and quite a bit of follow up work to do as a result!

A little research also tells me that the locals have a penchant for geese and Gåsaloppet (goose race) is a much-feted annual event traditionally held on midsummer at noon where residents form teams of six and race through the streets of old Skanor on home-made skis! (Click here if you want to check this out for yourself.)

So each morning we would take a short, sun-kissed and ski-less stroll through the village to our meeting venue and it was on Day 2 that I noticed a rather curious nod to the local fauna…

And then I looked down…

Do you think they’ve been practising for next year?


My Tweet Lord…

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(subtitled ‘When I Went Down To The Woods Today’)

I’m just back from a couple of days in Holland.  I do love being around Dutch people. It feels and sounds so familiar and nostalgic and the simple flavour of Dutch cooking brings back many childhood memories of home-cooked meals at Oma’s table. 

I’d never ventured beyond Amsterdam before and so it was with delight that I found myself in the North Brabant province in the town of ‘s-Hertogenbosch (which translated means The Duke’s Woods, and is often shortened by the natives to the more easily pronounce-able Den Bosch, or The Woods).

While the days themselves were filled with meetings, Thursday evening gave me the opportunity to walk around the city with my colleague (a local) before dinner.  It’s absolutely beautiful and historically rich with the remains of its medieval fortifications, the old buildings, the fountains (based on this visit, I have decided that the Dutch have a touch of OCD around fountains) and the thing that makes Dutch towns…well, Dutch – canals.  Here’s a short pictorial walkabout of my evening in ‘The Woods’:

Crossing the Canal to the Medieval City centre
The ‘neat as a pin’ town square
The medieval well (in the town square) unfortunately covered over
The Town Hall
Statue of artist Jeroen Bosch
A statue I liked in a side street
Excellent signage in another side street

But there was one thing that was so perverse and unexpected that it was the thing that inspired me to post about the trip in the first place.  The cathedral was undergoing a refurbishment and there was a desire to represent the ‘new generation’ by including a modern angel in the pantheon – so here she is…

…on her mobile:

Nothing like a direct line to the Big Guy Upstairs eh?

Travel Broadens The Mind…Or So They Say

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They say travel broadens the mind.  So it is in this spirit that I would like to share what I learnt during this week’s excursion into the pages of one of British Airways erstwhile mags, business:life.

Firstly, did you know that 65% of British adults have no idea how to wire a plug? No? Well, I figure that as long as we have some competent electricians in the remaining 35%, I’m pretty comfortable with leaving this task out of my repertoire. Aren’t you?

Then I turned the page to discover that 83% of smartphone owners regularly play games on them (I am not one of them – a game player I mean!) and that 26% of all mobile phone apps are only opened once after being downloaded (usually because they’re free and pretty rubbish – you get what you pay for in this life).  This all seemed little bit like stating the obvious but trotting out some ‘proper’ stats at the next do I attend should up my ‘street cred’ no end.

On the subject of travel, I found out that £860 is the average cost of a holiday per person and that one third return to the same spot for their annual break.  Also, one third of Britons admit to imbibing five or more alcoholic drinks  a day while on holiday – not an amazing statistic in and of itself as I think this is commonly known as chillin’. But 10% of the British population also show some signs of dyslexia. Probably because we like to behave like we are on permanent holiday when it comes to alcohol consumption. (By the way, does this mean that the remaining 90% just can’t spell?) 

Things then took a disturbing turn. 

70 is the number of times the average Briton is caught on CCTV daily.  All I can say is I hope they are getting my good side.  And a small note to self here: pay a little more attention to the details on the back-side – I don’t like my chances of a ‘positive’ response to ‘does my bum look big in this?’.

But even worse: apparently 1 in 5 UK motorists surf the internet while driving.  What the ****!? Is this somehow related to the 83% of gamers on smart-phones? Is this a rebellion against not talking on the phone whilst driving? Where’s that CCTV when you need it!?

By the end of the magazine, Britain’s good ol’ bastion of air travel had resorted to calling us all liars. 1 in 6 restaurants lies about the ‘fresh’ or ‘organic’ origins of its produce  (another ‘no s**t Sherlock’ moment). And apparently, 27% of Britons admit to lying about what they do on their weekend in order to impress others. Hey, you guys know what I am doing for at least a few hours each weekend as it appears right here – let me tell you it takes time to craft such thought-provoking and witty prose.

So I reached the end of the mag, and having enjoyed all of these titbits of knowledge, am smiling a little to myself as I close it, ready for its reinsertion into the seat-back pocket in front of me, when something else catches my eye and I just couldn’t help feeling that the question that business:life posed on behalf of BA to all we readers on the last page was somewhat ironic…

May we offer you something to drink?

God I love travelling!