Grenadier wrote:

People, mainly yooves, watching videos on their phone in a public place with an open speaker as opposed to headphones. I don't want to have to listen to French gangster-rap whilst trying to enjoy a double espresso and read about squeaky clutch pedals on my favourite (only) forum. Who drags these little sh**s up these days? Non existant parenting.

A week ago on the train there were two 50+ ladies (slightly the worse for wear) watching clips on a mobile at full blast. I politely asked if they would mind using headphones and got a Paddington Bear 'hard stare' for my trouble, and a lot of appreciative nods from the packed carriage. They did stop. Two things are odd - what made them think it was acceptable to make such a racket in an otherwise quiet carriage, and why did no one else say anything - just bizarre.

Perhaps they have offspring in France .

Grenadier wrote:

Huttopia wrote:

Geneva airport I thought Heathrow was bad but it always seems a surprise here that there are lots of flights = lots of people needing to get through security.

Miserable little airport; queues everywhere, bolshy security, fascist Border guards, little or no space, lack of seating compared to user-numbers and wildly inflated prices for almost everything. No extra services put on during peak seasons (such as Feb half term). Sadly it's now our main hub airport.

Have to agree with some of that. We had so far about 15 cm of snow overnight with still light snow continuing now. No more wind and just light frost. Geneva airport have an entire fleet of snow plows lined up for when this happens, but the airport remains fully closed this morning with not a single flight arriving or taking off so far. The intercontinental flight arrivals from WDC and JFK were diverted to somewhere else this morning. As a frequent flyer to many East-European destinations for the last 30 years I know in those countries they know how to keep the airports open in the winter with much more snow. Poor management here.
Eric You never actually own a Defender. You merely look after it for the next generation.
http://youtu.be/yVRlSsJwD0o
https://youtu.be/vmPr3oTHndg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GtzTT9Pdl0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABqKPz28e6A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLZ49Jce_n0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvAsz_ilQYU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8tMHiX9lSw
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dxwjPuHIV7I
https://vimeo.com/201482507
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSixqL0iyHw

Grenadier wrote:

Modern life. No respect for others, people just live in a selfish (and if challenged) often angry/agressive world. It's all about me in the here and now. No thought for others at all. As for the remainder, it's the reason anti-social behaviour has got out of hand. Everyone prefers to say nothing for fear of the angry over-reaction, or indeed violence, and that they (the complainer) won't be supported by others in the carriage. Catch-22. the more they sit by, the more anti-social behaviour blossoms, the harder it is to ever regain control. It's a spiral...

In my case, as I've got older (I'm 61) I've tended to notice the lack of manners, the inconsiderate behaviour and the stupidity of people more. I'm no genius, I'm not the easiest of people to get on with and I could be accused of a certain amount of intolerance but......I do have a sense of what is and what is not "done"
I have a sense of duty to Queen, country, community and to the other friendly inhabitants of this planet and expect the same of others.
I've found though, that the "say nothing for fear of angry over reaction" mentioned above is contributing to the lack of social awareness. In other words, if you let someone get away with dumping on you, they don't get bored and stop, they just find better ways to do it. Sooner or later, you have to point out the error of their ways, give a good reason why it has to stop and what will happen if it does'nt. It's always worked for me and I grew up in a Yorkshire mining town, spent my working life on building sites around the country and have served 36 years married to a right fiesty old cow (think Nora Batty in Prada)

Changing the subject, this is the first year for a long time that I hav'nt had a 4X4 ( I've still not replaced the 110 but an early Defender is in negotiation )
So, the current ride is a '09 Panda, fitted with some new 14" wheels from Bolt on Bits and a set of Goodyear Ultragrip8 winter tyres. An absolute hoot to drive in the snow


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