Greek Complexity

Amsterdam Day 1

I went on a short holiday in Europe a couple of weeks ago so the next few posts are going to be a mini-travelogue. For various reasons, I'm gonna pretend that I'm live-blogging on each day as the action happens.

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At Changi airport and, unbelievably, I'm writing work emails at 11pm till the very last minute before I need to run to my boarding gate. Thank goodness for free Internet access.

On the plane and get my first impressions of the Dutch (not that I've never met Dutch people before):

• They all follow instructions (unlike Indians!). The man next to me shifts uncomfortably when he sees me tapping away on my phone keyboard even after the safety video has ended. In my defence, I had turned off the radio!
• Even the kids are disciplined. Even though it was a 13-hour flight, not once was I disturbed by a tantrum thrown by a petulant midget. The closest I came to being disturbed by a Little Person was when the 8-year old behind me kicked my seat back a couple of times. Don't think that was deliberate.
• Yet they're not mute and quite willing to speak up (unlike Singaporeans!) or lend a hand when necessary, as happened a few times when a harried steward tried to find an empty overhead bin for someone's bag. Never seen that happen on flights around Asia.

On the whole, a very civilised lot.

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One horrible moment on the plane when I thought I'd forgotten my camera! I usually forget to pack something or the other. This trip went without a hitch.

Watched L'age de Raison (The Age of Reason) on the in-flight video. Very nice in parts but only 3.5 stars.

The flight announcements are made in English by a stewardess as usual, followed by a taped Dutch version. Why don't they do this for all flights? Flights to India, China, Germany and Japan, among others, always have stewardesses make the announcements in person in both English and the destination country's language. Why not tape them all including the English ones? Frees the stewardess to do whatever else needs to be done.

Escape on two wheels

My friend Joycelyn asked me recently what I think about when I'm cycling. My reply was prosaic and not worth repeating. But a recent article in the FT's Weekend edition expressed it perfectly. Quote:

The tarmac has turned sticky in the heat. Sweat stings my eyes and yet I’m shivering. My stomach lurches, my head spins, my teeth chatter. Following a train of thought becomes impossible, as if each idea were too tired to pass the baton to the next. So my mind empties, until I’m aware of nothing but the need to maintain the slow rhythm of the pedals, to keep grinding uphill until I reach the next hairpin.

[...]

At each hairpin, there is momentary relief as the road levels off slightly, before the next upward ramp reveals itself. It would be easy to panic, especially as we are soon overtaken by a woman jogging, but we stay calm and simply submit to the next 90 minutes of pain. Cyclists love to talk in philosophical terms about such moments – of the opportunity to “find yourself” on the road. Perhaps this is true, but as I near the summit I understand that for me, this is simply the perfect escape: you are so utterly absorbed in the challenge that all daily worries simply vanish. And the beer at the top is pretty good, too.

The road to hell (and the Tour de France)

Speaking of SIA

They're losing the plot. Service-wise, I mean. Getting to one's destination on time? No problem. Ever.

But the fall in service standards is another story. The other day, I had a problem with my video screen. This is something that's not uncommon these days, depending on the route one is flying (read: the plane they allocate to that route). What's unusual though is the reaction of flight staff.

When I asked a crew member about the problem with the screen at my seat, he looked at it casually, shrugged, said "It's an old plane" and walked off.

When this happened on my previous flight, I wasn't even given that excuse. Or any excuse.

Interestingly, my statistically nonsensical gut feel is that the younger crew actually come across as more contrite than the older ones. And among the older crew, the women come across as more genuinely apologetic than the men.

My theory? From first-hand observation, it's pretty clear that the female crew do much more work on the plane than the men. Yet, I'm told, the men find it easier to get promoted than the women. That's because there are many more women than men working as flight crew. Also possibly because some women leave the crew when they get married, but that's just a guess. Could this result in a general sense of complacency among senior male flight crew?

SIA's changed their pre-flight video! Mr Perfect Pitch stepped on a stair that just wasn't there. Guy next to me must have wondered what the hell I was doing emitting that single note out of the blue.

I want to go here

Maybe even live there. I dunno.

Joi Ito, you lucky, lucky ducky.

http://joi.ito.com/weblog/2010/03/16/puerto-viejo.html