Saving For A Rainy Day

Work is no fun for most of us and that's a fact. Still in the first world it is generally better, than working in a third world country, where everyday can be a struggle to get the necessities of life. In India for example, despite their huge advances in wealth promotion, about half the population is living a subsistence existence, and are no more than a day or so away from disaster, both financially and physically. 

Rainy Day Funds Are Essential For Security ....

 

But even in the West, its not all as cut and dried as we like to imagine. 

 

Dumbest of the Dumb

This blog has recorded many a stupidity, often by people of authority who really should have known better.

These have been across the globe, but lets be honest, it is often from the lands where comedians are thin on the ground, where the best laughs have come ..... radio controlled spy sharks, vultures, pigeons and squirrels are just a few of the tales that the lands of the uneducated scholars have made us laugh at over the years.

However I hold my hand up with this story ... they have simply blown every other stupidity into the water.

This one comes from the Anti-terrorism Court in Karachi, Pakistan and involves, senior Judges and Anti-Terror experts .... supposedly 'educated' men, at least by local standards. So when during a hearing, the Judge asked investigation officer Constable Abil Abid about how an explosive device actually worked, you would expect that there would be a sensible explanation with diagrams and power-point presentations etc .... sadly not so.

The Mask And The Suicide Belt Should Have Given It Away ......

The constable offered to give a 'practical' demonstration and they all gathered around him .....

On the Lash With Euro Trash

A mate of mine is off to Lisbon for a boozy weekend 'City-Break'. This led to a lively discussion on where was the best place to go for a cheap and sunny long weekend, on the lash in Europe (excluding the UK, which has its own type of charms and consideration ~ Whitley Bay and Blackpool come rated highly for drinking cultures, but not for the sunshine or culture).

So, much research took place (over lunch time) ..... which is still probably more than most men would ever do, apart from over football fixtures. The end result was a league table (of sorts) of the best places to go for a Euro City-Break drink-up holiday based on:

(a) Available cheap flights from UK, with shorter travelling times (from London, or Manchester).
(b) Reasonable accommodation costs.
(c) The price of alcohol for a large (about 12 drinks), mixed round of drinks (including Wines, Beers and Shorts with spigot mixers).
(d) Based on £1.00 = Euro 1.30 ish at time we did this. (Always check prices before travelling as pound is falling fast at the moment until Brexit day).

Its assumed that these are summer only visits, and that there are some fairly lively club and bar scenes in each of these party towns. In the interests of anyone who is planning such a trip, here are our findings in a regional sort of way:

Eastern Europe is King:

1. Prague in The Czech Republic ~ Scenic and Sunny in summer. Reportedly a large round of mixed drinks is especially cheap at around £30.00 (one cheapskate, said that even with a few girls drinks, he managed a round of ten drinks for £25.00).

Prague Booze Ups Could Be Rather Sedate Affairs ...

Germany Calling

What a sign of the times we live in - life elective and President of Turkey. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan chose to organise a rally ostensibly in support of democracy, err no, well actually err, himself. Nothing new about that as he regularly organises these rallies, which are covered slavishly by a now non-free Turkish press.

Turkeys Cologne Rally ....

But this time he looked to the newly occupied areas of his new Ottoman empire ... In this case it was Almanya Arama (Germany calling) to the AKP. So it was organised in Cologne, right in the heart of Markel's Germany (and incidentally the scene of a mass sex attack by Muslim men earlier this year).

Religious Reporting Politics

There are times when I despair of the BBC and its reflex PC defence of Islam and its followers  ...

Yet Another Islamic Bombing  According To Headline ...

  .... no matter what the event, the words Terrorism, Muslim or Islam must not be visible together.