Roadside sign seen on the way to Simla in the Himalayas
Whisky is Risky on Road
Couldn’t have put it better myself.
Don’t drink and drive!
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Monthly Archives: April 2014
Who moved my cheese?
They’ve done it again! I’ve just come back from the supermarket, and the cheese wasn’t where it was last week. Nor was the coffee. And I couldn’t find the eggs either, without the help of a charming assistant… Is it just in England that supermarket managers seem to like moving the stock around? Is it a marketing ploy, to encourage shoppers to wander the aisles? Or continuous testing to find the best spot in the store for the sugar? Surely the supermarket managers don’t do it deliberately, to annoy someone who wants to rush in, do the shopping and get back to work?
So, instead of expecting the customers to re-learn the layout of the shop, why not copy the idea of those clever people at Leroy Merlin (DIY store in Montpellier, France). The handle of the trolley is a helpful map of the store. Brilliant. Supermarket managers, over to you….
Seen in Pondicherry, Southern India
At your convenience…
I recently read an article* about toilets. Why, asks the author, does someone think it’s OK to close the lavatories after passport control at Heathrow’s Terminal 5? Why are decent toilet facilities so difficult to find? And it’s not just at Heathrow and not just in the UK. Why, in many parts of the world, aren’t public conveniences – well, convenient? (As for whether they are clean, tidy, well-designed or even safe – I suspect that lots of travellers have unsavoury stories to tell on that subject).
So, for any decision makers out there who happen upon this blog: think about toilets, and think about Japan. Japan has public toilets. Lots of them. Sparkly clean and tidy. In stores, on railway platforms, at the entrance to parks. In Tokyo’s (successful) bid to host the 2020 summer Olympic games the organisers pointed out that clean and available toilets are essential in welcoming the world….
And while the Travelling Frogs are campaigning for better public toilets – here’s another good idea, from Austria. This public toilet in Vienna is a delight. It was playing the Beautiful Blue Danube when I visited… What fun.
* by Tyler Brule, in FT Weekend. Tyler is editor of Monacle magazine and travels more often than most of us have hot dinners.
The Importance of Friends
“When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends”
(Japanese proverb)
A word to the wise
“To know what you do not know is the beginning of wisdom”
(Sanskrit verse)
travelling frogs 