Just a various eclectic mix of food photos taken in various locations. Nothing special. Just enjoy and be hungry.
Coconut Tart
Sliders and Beef Wellingtons
Radioactive New Malden
Copyright Chris Bushe
Is there a better biscuit than a Costa enormous Custard Cream? So logical, make a biscuit of the size that one might want a cake to be.
Custard Cream. Copyright Chris Bushe
Custard Cream. Copyright Chris Bushe
Iceland is not a country that I have been to before but some knowledge was there regarding the banking crisis, the ash cloud and more positive reports of good nightlife and interesting places to visit. Reyjkavik is a place that cruise ships now venture to. The first challenge was spelling Reykjavik. I failed when trying to input the city into my I Phone weather app. Thankfully the more intelligent and literary members of my family also failed similarly. In summary this is an interesting island that maybe would be good for 3-4 days maximum. There are plenty of things to see . The first impression as the plane comes into land is that firstly the plane flies low for quite a while whilst out at sea and the first image of Iceland is uncannily like the introduction scene to Father Ted where one views Craggy Island. In fact did they use Iceland? The people are friendly and rather Scandinavian like and most speak excellent English.
I had only 4 hours to see the isalnd and visited 3 places that seemed fairly special. Firstly the tectonic plates that divide west from east and literally these stones represent a dividing line in the Earth’s crust. Secondly some Geysers and lastly a massive waterfall that makes Niagara Falls look quite small in many ways.
The place to see the tectonic plates is called Pingvalla or Pingvellir. Neither is spelled correctly as the Icelandic alphabet has 32 letters which thus include letters that do not feature in our alphabet but also do not include the letters, C, W, Q and Z. The Icelandic parliament was founded here in 930 AD before even my time. And even functioned as a court of Law till 1798. Curiously Iceland has only been independent of Danish and Norwegian monarchy since 1918. In 2013, it was ranked as the 13th most-developed country in the world by the United Nations’ Human Development Index.Gender equality is highly valued in Iceland. In the Global Gender Gap Report 2012, Iceland holds the top spot for the least gap, closely followed by Finland, Norway and Sweden. Furthermore among NATO members, Iceland has the smallest population and is the only one with no standing army. The population of Iceland is less than 350,000.
Here are a few images of Pingvalla.
Pingvallir. copyright Chris Bushe
Pingvallir. copyright Chris Bushe
Pingvallir. copyright Chris Bushe
Norway has to be one of the most civilised countries. Having been here only two days I have yet to find anyone who is anything less than polite and helpful. Anyone who serves you with food and drink has all the attitude you need and none of that surly dont care stuff either. The food is fresh and simple. Lots of nice bread, fruit and fish. Flying on Norwegian Airlines ( in Row 30 I should add economy cheap class), there was free wifi on the plane above 10,000 feet. Taxi drivers smile and are helpful. People are intelligent and interesting. Admittedly this place is not so cheap. Something like 8£ for a hot dog at the airport, but it did come with mashed potato, relish and a decent bread roll. In short I like this place.
Wifi if it is free at 10,000 feet and free in the airport and free in all hotels. Why Marriott hotels and others is it not free in UK? Explain to me also why all airlines cannot offer free in-flight wifi?
LCY is a very convenient airport and in general terms functions well. I came across it by chance a few months ago and have used it as often as possible as it frankly beats travelling and experiencing the hell that is Heathrow. That was until something went wrong. When things run smoothly then all is well but when something goes wrong in a small airport then how does it cope. LCY is a small airport. There are no lounges and or anything luxurious. A huge open space that subdivides ino a few eating and drinking areas. Last thursday things went wrong. Having arrived early and spent 2 hours there it was a happy occurrence to then find out from the departures screen ( no announcements of this happy event) that my flight to Edinburgh was cancelled long with the last of the day. No reasons given.
At that stage one discovered that two plane loads of folks, perhaps 250 maybe more, were queuing at the ticket desk which had two people working. British Airways no doubt would have employed good souls but to be placed at the back of this queue meant that I did a quick estimation that even if each customer was sorted in 5 minutes ( new flight/complaints/hotel for the night etc), I might be there for hours and in fact very many hours. Possibly all night even. so here is a situation that does not work in a small airport. This is a shame as I shall now think twice before using a small airport again , maybe the larger airports would have more staff, more flights, and a speedier resolution.
So a few photos as momentos . The queue snaked around and around and in fact like a giant conga twined itself through the 2 cafe’s in the airport.
The rumour is either that BA has so many delays that hotels are becoming expensive, or that increasing levels of luxury are being demanded from the expensively suited folks who travel in the various upper this, or executive that classes. Either way it came a no shock to see a BA plane with a small aprtment block built on the top for such reasons.
a splendid idea in fact.
London city airport is in the heart of docklands and the views are impressive both when landing and when landed. On this autumnal evening the light was shining kindly for my i-phone to snap an air France plane waiting at the gate.
Mariano Rajoy, the Spanish conservative prime minister, is duly announcing to those who will listen that despite unemployment rates of 27%, that rise to 57% amongst the youth, that the worst is over. What this translates to is that unemployment will fall to 25% by 2016. Not overly encouraging. Although not an expert on the economic aspects of Andalucia I have to report based on a week in Benalmadena that there was no evidence of massive unemployment. That observation has to be caveated by the fact that I was hardly looking for unemployed Spanish youth whilst lounging on the beach. There was a single eastern european beggar outside Mercadona ( the Spanish Tesco equivalent). What was obvious though was that there were far fewer British expats and tourists there than before, a linear annual decline. Fewer English type restaurants and bars, and where these had closed down they were replaced by Spanish bars. As a consequence presumably of all this, less tourists and more indigenous Spainish, prices have fallen considerably. A beer would cost 1-2 euros. In the best bar along the beach side Palm 5, a beer cost less than 2 euros. Glass of wine, and thats of a proper size, was 1-2 euros.
The only clear evidence of economic recession was the absence of building of flats and apartments. But frankly the rate they were building 5 years ago was ridiculous. Benalmadena costa may be a nice place but not that nice. But it is not Monaco! Outside our apartment there is a crane towering over a half finished block of apartments. This in itself is not exciting but when put into context that I have taken the same photograph now for 5 years. That crane has not moved in 5 years. The half finished block remains unfinished and I imagine will look just like that next year.
Benalmar Playa
Benalmadena Costa
chris1957
Arcticterntalk.org 