Endurance Travel

Flying has always been something of an ordeal, particularly flying cattle class out of Heathrow or Gatwick. Now it's beyond "ordeal" - a real test of endurance.

 

Leaving Gatwick we arrived at the airport 2 hours and 15 minutes before take-off. Check-in took half an hour, about normal for TAP. Then five minutes just to reach the end of the security queue, which was leaving the terminal, and 90 minutes to clear security, all this time on our feet, shuffling along. How the pensioners heading off to the Canaries or the families with young children bound for the Costa del Sol survived, I don't know. Typical British stoicism abounded in the queue, but I was exhausted as we dashed through the shopping area to our gate, showing "Final Call".

 

The worrying part is that the security is relying on the fright factor. They really cannot see liquids in the hand luggage. We forgot to put our allergy drops in the hold bags, so took them with us, no problem! Anyway, so far so good on the incident front. Given the choice, I would think twice about travelling though, purely based on the stress and inconvenience that has to be endured.

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Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

After all the hype and endless "making of" programs on the movie channels on the cable, this film was something of a let-down. Perhaps if I had not seen those programs, it would have been better, as I had already seen the major action sequences that are the most enjoyable parts of the film.

 

The three main characters, Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley are excellent and well supported by Jack Davenport as the down-and-out Norrington. I was less convinced by the Davy Jones and Bootstrap Bill characters.

 

In terms of the script, the main problems is that it doesn't stand up by itself; this is clearly a bridge between films one and three, and this becomes clear very early in the movie.

 

At least the kids loved it, though even they, at 8 and 12 years old, complained about the final scene - a very unsubtle trailer for the third movie. As for going to the movies to see this one, the sound was great but the long fight scene on the beach was spoilt by dirt flashing past in the projector.

 

Not such a bad film that I won't buy the DVD when it comes out, for a more comfortable viewing environment. I'll have to get a bigger TV though...

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Rio Sul Shopping

What better to do on one's first day off work than to go shopping. Yuk!

 

Among other places, we ended up at Rio Sul Shopping in Seixal, now fully upgraded from Continente Seixal to the full glory of a second tier mall. What's wrong with it? Well for a start, I never liked the name. Why name a shopping centre after an obscure tributary that flows into the River Vouga in the centre of S. Pedro do Sul? Maybe the marketing guys know even less Portuguese geography than I do. I also found their advertising campaign very bland - nothing new or dynamic - just about sums it up in fact.

 

Sonae decided to put in a parking space location system, the first I had seen in Portugal, which guides you to a free space. All very well, but the corners are too tight at the end of rows, so they have closed the last space to allow cars to make the turn. But they forgot to tell the parking system, which detects no vehicle and shows the space as free. As a result, all rows have a green light! There is also no blue light to show that only disabled/pregnant spaces are available. The wonders of modern technology!

 

The restaurant area is huge, with a nautical theme and a wonderful glass roof. The heat was unbearable with the only free tables inevitably in full sun on a day which reached 36ºC with people advised to go to the shopping centres to get away from the heat - lovely.

 

As for the shops, the poor selection demonstrates the second tier qualities of the centre. I think I'll stick to my quick, surgical supermarket visits at this one and reserve serious shopping for Almada Forum, the Colombo or Amoreiras.

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German Discount Groceries

Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, is pulling out of Germany because Germans don't want to pay to be better served, preferring to go to Lidl. Now I agree with them about service - at a supermarket who cares - but I am so allergic to actually going shopping that you won't find me in Lidl. Give me a hypermarket any day. One-stop shopping, in and out as quickly as possible, buying what's on the list and probably nothing more. It's not that there's anything wrong with Lidl's products - the lasagne and ready-mixed Sangria are great - I just can't buy everything in one go.

Somewhere in the murky depths of my mind another obscure connection was made. I remember reading that the Germans could rescue their Social Security system simply by buying and consuming as much as 20% less food. Healthcare would cost the State less due to reduced obesity, and they could save more for their retirement, easing the pension burden.

If the Germans prefer not to pay for service, what do they buy with the cash that they save? Greater quantities? It would appear so. And this is not just a German problem. Obesity is rife in the UK and ever more commonplace in Portugal where lower disposable income should encourage more careful shopping. Food for thought...

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The Bourne Supremacy

This year's holiday pastime among my sons' friends is film swapping. Now don't preach to me about copyright - that's impractical. I just watch (some) of them and send them back. I won't review all of them here, or else it will change from a "football" blog to a film blog.

Saturday's movie was The Bourne Supremacy - superb. I haven't enjoyed a spy movie this much since the film adaptations of John Le Carre's "Smiley" novels: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold with Richard Burton, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Smiley's People with Alec Guinness.

The locations (India, Naples, Berlin and Moscow) are well integrated in the plot. No concessions are made to non-linguists, with local characters speaking in their native tongues.

Weapons and gadgetry do not intrude, as often happens in such films. The CIA's use of tracking and information gathering computer systems is credible. The only real doubt is whether a Moscow taxi could survive the treatment it takes in the car chase, but that sequence is so good that the doubt can be forgiven.

Such a good film that it will go on my shopping list, which is already rather long, somewhere near the top.

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Justice: Under the Carpet

A fundamental anglo-saxon legal principle is that justice must not only be done, but must be seen to be done. It's a good job that the Zidane-Materazzi hearing took place in Switzerland!

All of a sudden, we find that there were no racial insults involved. Zidane received a 7,500 CHF (5,000 EUR) fine - I could afford that - and three days' community service. Materazzi was fined 5,000 CHF and suspended for two matches.

What is going on? Zidane and Materazzi behaved unacceptably on the game's biggest stage and get away with pathetic punishment. Zidane reportedly earns 110,000 EUR per week, so what is 5,000 EUR to him? Compare his punishment with the 30,000 GBP (45,000 EUR) fines paid by Eric "Kung-Fu" Cantona in 1995.

Was justice seen to be done? Obviously not. So FIFA have swept the matter under the carpet, perhaps at Gelsenkirchen.....

Zzzzizzzzou....

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Blue Living

Blue Living is a monthly lifestyle magazine that the Caixa Geral de Depositos is kind enough to send me. Now I don't buy magazines as a rule - no time to read them. But this publication is so good that I would probably buy it.

Its articles on hotels and leisure activities are superb - the down-side comes with the twee photos of furnishings and accessories for the home. Not that I am against such articles, but where does one keep all that junk once the initial burst of enthusiasm has worn off?

In the June issue, the Editor, Luisa Jacobetty, complained about children's behaviour in a restaurant spoiling her evening, and was promptly crucified by her readers, either for being anti-children, or for not taking the matter up with the restaurant owner. For me her message was clear and balanced - maybe I missed some of the subtlety! Fortunately, some readers agreed with her, that the problem is fundamentally that of the parents and their attitudes.

This is a critical problem nowadays in Portugal, as it has been in other countries for many years. Parents are increasingly disinterested in giving a proper upbringing to their children, probably due to similar neglect by their parents. This, for me, is particularly visible among the rich, who are supposedly better educated. Their attitude, that money excuses bad behaviour, is seen everywhere nowadays, from restaurants to healthcare to driving habits. Parental disinterest is so common that in exclusive closed condominiums the main security problem is not intrusion by outsiders but damage caused by the owners' children. Unfortunately there is no obvious solution to this problem.

Anyway, I will keep on reading the magazine, in the hope of finding a restaurant or weekend destination where my children would fit in, or maybe even some "junk" that I like enough to have lying around the house.

Bewitched

Last week's discount priced DVD was Bewitched.

At first sight, the genre is off-putting - a film about the making of a classic series remake. That generalisation is confirmed upon seeing the film - it is dreadful.

On the other hand, Nicole Kidman is gorgeous, though some of the close-ups show that she too is beginning to age. Will Ferrell acts his socks off as the star who finds an unknown girl for his comeback series (quite ironic when comparing his career with Nicole Kidman's) while Michael Caine and Shirley MacLaine are solid in their supporting roles. But the disaster is in the plot, not helped by the directing.

At least the film appealed to our eight year-old, as it is funny in places and easy on the eye, despite his having no idea about the constant references to the original series. In short, don't bother buying it, and don't rent it unless it is to play in the background at an eighth birthday party.

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Tax Consultant for Hire

I thought of calling this "Scolari is an Idiot", but what's the difference. All this talk about tax exemptions on the Portuguese squad's bonuses is complete bull.

 

Firstly, with the top Portuguese tax rate of 42%, which international footballer is going to worry about paying 20,400 euros of tax on a miserable 50,000 euro bonus?

 

Secondly, many of the players are not tax resident in Portugal. Most countries require declaration of all global earnings from their tax residents. So Pauleta, for instance, would have to declare the bonus anyway. If he did not pay tax on the bonus in Portugal, he would have to in France. Tax paid in Portugal would be deducted from his French tax bill. So it makes no difference!

 

Scolari should stick to what the FPF thinks he's good at - coaching. But if he needs some tax advice, I'll be around.

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Better vicious or incompetent?

Arriving at the pizzaria for lunch yesterday with my newspaper under my arm, the manager asked me, "What paper is that? We don't want any of those vicious English newspapers in here." Fortunately the Financial Times met with his approval.
The sensationalist crap that the popular British press makes up is no credit to anybody and causes damage to the national reputation of civilised stoicism.
Better the laid-back incompetence of the Portuguese press than "investigative journalism" with a habit of making things up.