Welcome to rascott.com
This is a
personal site that reflects my interests in news,
current affairs, aviation and travel.
email me:
robert@rascott.com
rascott.com
Home Page
Photo Albums
My photographs have been moved off this site and are now stored on Picasa. They
were simply taking up too much space on my web host.
Please use
this link to see my list of photo albums.
Some
Useful links:
Information:
World Time
Clock
Exchange Rates
Journalism:
ForeignPolicy
Nationsonline.org
Project Syndicate
Amnesty International
Reporters w/o borders
The Guardian
BBC World News
CNN Asia
Bangkok Post
Daylife.com - news
Gulf News
Arabian Business
World News
WSJ - Asia
SCMP
Good causes:
Sister
Joan - Bangkok
Regional Info:
BKK Magazine
HK Magazine
In
Singapore Magazine
TimeOut Dubai
Back in the UK:
Newton Ferrers
And for fun:
EarthCam
History
BBC Archive
National Media
Museum
The British Library
Imperial War Museum
There are many other links on my AOB blog page.
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An Occasional Blog
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Thailand Blogs Bangkok Pundit - politics Bangkok Metblogs - city life Thai-blogs.com - rather serious
2bangkok.com
-
not really a blog but always up to date on Bangkok news
BKKOK.com
Thai
Girl The exotic adventures of a literary
sexagenarian.
Thai
Films
dxbae
- picture blog
Al - Emarati
- English language UAE blog
Grumpy
Goat
In China Danwei - media and advertising news from China
Shanghai
Diaries - self explanatory
My Olive Tree
- Macau blog In Singapore: Xiaxue - self-confessed mean, bitchy, sex goddess who says "wah" a lot!
Mr Brown
- colourful commentary from Singapore
In Canada:
Media:
Tabloid
Watch (UK) Aviation Amadeus (airline schedules) Airline meals - see it b4 you eat it !
Airliners
- aviation forum, trip reports and pix
archive Planenation - commercial aviation news Airchive - a web museum of commercial aviation.
CrankyFlier
- mainly US commentary
Sharjah - 1937 News The Guardian - UK
Arabian
Business China sites Bangkok info sites Worthy Sites Niall Ferguson - my favorite modern historian
Rconversation - from Rebecca
MacKinnon, ex-TV reporter-turned-blogger. Golf Sites
Fun Sites
Penguin baseball Technology Ideas
Stuff -
gadgets The Rest
Black
Flamingo - recipes and life (no golf!)
Author
Robert Scott lives and works in Dubai; born in England I have since lived in Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok. I am very happily married to Tai.
If you want to know more you only need to ask! ask.
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31 October 2010 Back in Dubai. And not a lot to report. Tom Cruise is here saving Dubai with Mission Impossible 4.
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Who will she choose? Me thinks by the end it will be neither! 28 October 2010 Bad mistake - booked myself into Citadines on sukhumvit soi 23 in Bangkok - and this is the view from my hotel room - they start early and finish late under floodlights:
25 October 2010 25 years ago today:
EK's first flight to Karachi - 25 October 1985. 24 October 2010 A few bits and pieces from the last few days: Was in London from Tuesday evening to Thursday afternoon. Lovely sunny cold weather. I do stay in some dumps! The Darlington at Paddington is an OK hotel but the single room is so so small. You can stand in the middle of the room and touch all the walls. And dont get me started on the Comfort Suites at Heathrow. I felt unclean!
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**************************** And the catering. Oh dear. 21 October 2010 Emirates Airline Barbie - everyone will want one:
********************************* George Osborne's massive cost cutting exercise may simply be too much and too soon - double dip recession here we come....
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20 October 2010 On Emirates 29 to London. 24 hours in the UK and back to Dubai. 18 October 2010 I take this Big Mac to have and to hold.......in sickness and in health....till pickle do us part? As Hong Kong MacDonalds starts to host weddings!
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AFP reports that - "The Federal Supreme Court in the United
Arab Emirates has ruled that a man can beat his wife and young children as
long as no marks are left, The National newspaper reported on Monday. 17 October 2010 OK - I am back - sorry I was quiet ! Still recovery from being accused of being a Dubai Properties plant at a meeting of Executive Towers owners last week. Too funny. Though the "we are smarter than you" arrogance of some people is simply breathtaking. In addition it was loudly repeated that stay at home husbands are apparently too stupid to be entrusted with responsible work !
************************************ Lunch on the way back to Dubai - the Lulu Fujairah coffee shop: a bargain ! And a decent cappuccino for aed6. Take that Starbucks.
14 October 2010 If you are in Washington DC on 30 October 2010 this is the place to be. The Rally for Sanity We should all be there !! 13 October 2010 Rescue pictures from the Chile mine. Seems to put everything else into perspective.
*********************** And they were back again this morning to finish. 11 October 2010 Hawaii Five-0 is back on US television Thank you CBS. The same theme music as well. And filmed on location. And the best reason to watch - US born Korean, grew up in Canada, Grace Park - not the golfer, the actress...  10 October 2010 OK - I know it was childish but I sent myself an mail at 10.10am on 10.10.10.
************************************* 9 October 2010 Ok that was weird. Nice dinner last night with friends. Then slept from midnight until 4.30am. Woken by the loudest snoring that I have ever ever heard. Got up at 5am. Brain unstoppable. Back to bed at 8.30am. Slept until 4pm. Bizarre. 8 October 2010 I wrote the first in a series of personal essays this morning. Entitled "Places" the essays are meant to reflect my connection to some of the places that have been part of my life. Inevitably the first essay is on Hong Kong. Others will follow when I am inspired.
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************************** Of course a better date would have been 10 October 1010. But then you might have ended up watching the Normans 56 years later at the Battle of Hastings! 7 October 2010 David Cameron - the UK Prime Minister gave his speech to the Tory party conference yesterday: He presents well but it was still a speech of soundbites that left a lingering impression of a sunny headmaster of a privileged school addressing bright eyed boys and girls before they all went off somewhere nice for the summer. Overshadowed by the looming spending review, it was low on substance and offered nothing more than exhortation. Cameron's recent economic history of Britain can be summed up simply. The mess we're in now has got nothing to do with bankers – who got barely a mention in the speech, apart from a plea to them to lend more. The debt is all because of feckless Labour – whose economic policy David Cameron actually supported until the winter of 2008.
And the bankers of course are almost always Tory faithful. Cameron was trying to be Mr. Nice Guy - but it will not work - There is no way to implement huge cost cuts and create a gentler, more community-spirited nation. Because this will be about survival of the fittest. 6 October 2010 My sleep patterns are all messed up. Slept for two hours yesterday afternoon; then from 1.30am to 4.30am and then from 7.30 am to midday. Weird.
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************************ 3 October 2010 They really are prima donnas driving the Oxford buses to and from Heathrow. "No mobile phones unless it is an emergency as I have to concentrate. And if using personal stereos please keep the volume low so as not to offend your driver." Really. just drive the bus.
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************************* And the perfect card:
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********************* 1 October 2010 Best story today from the Ryder Cup is that the US waterproofs are not what they are supposed to be -
From the Guardian - "Officials from the PGA of America had
to be dispatched to the merchandise tent at Celtic Manor to buy some new
suits.
Oops - but then buying waterproofs from a company called
Sun Mountain
must be a risk ! 30 September 2010
Ryder Cup alert: I have WAG exhaustion – they should all be
left at home or left for the next 3 days in Offa’s Dyke. 29 September 2010 Oh yeah - its the Ryder Cup this week - but the event has become bigger than the sport - and Monty (remember the Indonesian Open) is the European champion. So the game has lost much of its dignity and decency. Will I watch. Only if I have nothing else to do.
**************************** Air Canada sits 9 across on its 777s. And that feels crowded. Just how does Emirates get 10 across? Air Canada IFE is OK. A bit cumbersome to navigate but at least they dont bleep out all the swear words. But you cannot fast forward through the ads. And there are far too many ads. Food - basic. Simple. Gum chewing flight attendants. A bit tacky. Most have been flying for so long that no one dare tell them not to ! London Terminal 3. Immigration is a disgrace. The building is old, the staff are surly, the queue for non EU/UK was 45 minutes, not all the desks are staffed. Just an awful and unwelcoming place. The new third world. Students entering England were being told that they had to complete a health form if it was there first visit. But not if you are from the USA. Are US students supposed to be healthier? Strange. Tai has headed back on EK to Dubai. It is quiet and a bit strange without her. |
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28 September 2010 Miserable wet day in Ontario - good day to be leaving Toronto - outbound on Air Canada to London. 27 September 2010 Last night was the coldest night I have spent for a long time. Our cottage has a wood fire and hot water. But it was only 2C last night - and everything including my nose and toes felt cold. Our cottage is north east of Huntsville - well away from the upmarket resorts that now line routes 60 and 35. Huntsville has become a big town - some 20,000 people. Too many smart resorts and private golf courses. The real Muskokas were for people to escape city life - not to remain a part of it. A lady in a gift shop on Huntsville High Street insisited that growth was bad for the town - too many box shops and box restaurants. She said that the old country town feel and atmosphere had long gone. And she is right - too many ugly box like malls wit hthe same old shops. And the small are always bad news for old style high streets. The car and then the mall have killed small town Canada life.
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**************************** When we came to Toronto last year the UV filter was smashed - fortunately it did enough to protect the lens. This time two of the three lens threads that attach the lens to the Nikon mount have been broken off. Something must hit the lens hard through the bad and the camera case. Now to take a picture I have to hold the lens in place against the camera body. After three years is it time for a new camera - or should I just buy a second hand lens? No where else in the world has damaged my camera. What do they do with bags in Canada. They also removed the padlock from the camera bag. 25 September 2010 Reasons to listen to old folk - courtesy of the Canadian Museum of Civilization:
********************************* The original plan was to fly from Calgary to Quebec via Montreal. Our bags did just that. But there were no seats to Montreal so we flew to Toronto instead - where there were no seats to Quebec. So stayed overnight near the aiaport until we could get our bags back the following lunchtime and then head off for the long drive to Ottawa. Took the 407 across the top of Toronto. Years ago when that road opened it was in the country. Now it feels like it is in the city. The growth of Toronto is amazing; too much probably as the basic infrastructure of roads and transport simply cannot cope. 21 September 2010 The reason Canadians fly is to avoid getting stuck behind truck convoys on the Trans Canada Highway !
*************************** 20 September 2010 Oh dear - "Though the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) has already received autopsy results of the 89 people killed during the recent political unrest, it has yet to decide if the information can be made public, DSI chief said yesterday" - The Nation
**************************** From Whistler to Pemberton and onto Lillooet. There is not much of anything at Lillooet - a very different world from Vancouver! Originally a gold rush town there is not much evidence that any of that wealth stayed in the town. There are a number of Japanese-Canadian families in Lillooet today who are descendants of those who remained in the area after their forced relocation to Lillooet and other nearby camps at Shalalth, Minto City and McGillvray Falls during World War II. Ken Adachi was one such internee who wrote : "Born in Canada, brought up on big-band jazz, Fred Astaire and the novels of Henry Rider Haggard, I had perceived myself to be as Canadian as the beaver. I hated rice. I had committed no crime. I was never charged, tried or convicted of anything. Yet I was fingerprinted and interned." It was not until 1988 that Prime Minister Brian Mulroney gave a formal apology and announced the details of compensation to the affected citizens.
From Lillooet we drove down to Merritt and then onto the
Coquihalla Highway - when it started to throw it down with rain - and as
reported in one local newspaper today: "Slippery road conditions may have
contributed to multiple crashes on Highway 97C near the Pennask summit
Sunday afternoon. We saw both accidents. And people do drive too fast and without lights - which with lousy visibility from heavy rain and road spray makes no sense at all. 19 September 2010 It was the fourth anniversary of the 2006 Thai coup today and the red shirts were back in Bangkok as several thousand gathered at Rajprasong Road in the heart of Bangkok's commercial district and the scene of May's bloody crackdown to mark the coup of September 2006 and four months since the crackdown. 18 September 2010 Starting last night on Global TV across Canada - Ice Pilots NWT - a reality series on flying for Buffalo Airlines in Canada's North West Territories. With a fellt of DC-4, DC-3 and Curtiss C-46 these guys are flying 60 year old airplanes in the most hostile climate. Now that is flying ! Check them here at www.icepilots.com
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************************ Yet the ECB is allowing the tour to continue. The Cricket World Cup is just a few months away. If the tournament is to have any credibility the match fixing allegations need to be fully investigated and exposed. That means simply that the current tour must end now. Not one game or result is believable anymore. 17 September 2010 From the site that gives you everything - a basic bagel recipe: makes about 12 bagels.
Ingredients 16 September 2010 Pet hate - momentarily - we will be departing momentarily - translates to going soon. Unnecessary and over-used word in the USA.
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************************* "Q. How do you feel about the aging process? A. Well, I’m against it. [laughs] I think it has nothing to recommend it. You don’t gain any wisdom as the years go by. You fall apart, is what happens. People try and put a nice varnish on it, and say, well, you mellow. You come to understand life and accept things. But you’d trade all of that for being 35 again. I’ve experienced that thing where you wake up in the middle of the night and you start to think about your own mortality and envision it, and it gives you a little shiver."
****************************** And of course it is raining in Vancouver. I have not been here since Asia Pacific days in 2006. In the meantime Vancouver has grown; maybe too much. The west end and yaletown are now condo towns. MOst of the developments around Coal Harbour are finished - there is little room to add more. It already feels over crowded. But there is a lesson for Dubai here. The condo developments have decent road access; they are well landscaped; they are secure; they have all the necessities of life around them from coffee shops and stores to schools and medical facilities. Dubai Properties could learn a lot but there is little evidence that they care to. The Shangri-La hotel and apartments is complete - it is too tall and ugly. But it has led to a transformation of Alberoni Street from something of a ghetto into another smart street. Even the local liquor store got a facelift. As has the Safeway store at Denham and Robson. The Asian influence may be even stronger than ever. The bottom end of Robson is now a sea of Japanese and Korean food with the occasional Thai. Now all it needs to do is stop raining ! 12 September 2010 There is a 2 hour delay tonight on EK 373 - so it will be a very late return to Dubai. This is when flying to airports with no curfew is such an advantage.
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"There will always be people on the fringe of society who
believe that the only impact they can leave on humanity is death and
destruction. History will remember these criminals for who they are. To
hasten this process, we must move forward together with love and respect
and not regard those who are different from us as enemies." 10 September 2010
I told my wife I had a job in a bowling alley... And then I had to explain the joke! 9 September 2010
Bad news for visitors to BKK: Thai baht smashes 13-year
record in closing at 30.85/ US dollar. Strongest rate since 1997 financial
crisis. When will it break the 30 baht barrier? Oh yes. Not far!
************************** I was up at 6.20am and out of my prison cell/hotel before 7am. Good news. The local patisserie in Duvonne-les-bains is open before 7am. And can there be anywhere nicer than a french bakery in the morning. The smell of fresh bread and coffee, wonderful. Cafe and pain au chocolate to go. Drove to Rolle and left Alex's passport with him. He was off to breakfast and then an 8.15am french test! And then a 3 hour drive to Zurich Airport. It started well and easy in sunshine. But by the time I was near Berne the rain was fierce. And every highway in Switzerland appears to be under repair with all traffic on one side of the highway. Very slow and needed to concentrate. And then a bit rushed around Zurich Airport - but calm descended as I boarded TG971 - for 10 hours and 10 minutes from Zurich to Bangkok. The flight was quiet. How does TG make money? I forgot; it doesn't. Decent meals; wine poured from a full bottle. The A340-600 is fairly new; and is one of few Thai long haul planes with back of the seat IFE. And I actually watched three movies. No sleep. Landed in Bangkok at 5.20am. Too slow with the baggage; but still beat the rush hour traffic into the city this morning. 8 September 2010 Three hour drive in the rain to Zurich - and traffic was heavy. My BKK mobile is out of battery. My Dubai mobile has no credit. And if you try to log onto Etisalat to recharge your mobile this is the message that you get:
Dear Customer And now I have lost my wireless - Swisscom connection. This is useless. Meantime Tai is sending me where are you - why are you quiet messages. Grrrrr. 5 September 2010 I am heading out to Zurich - overnight near the airport and then down to Geneva to see Alex start in his new school. Big adventure for him. Although apparently lost his bags in transit through Paris. Not good. ********************* Golf yesterday at Al Hamra. Far too hot.
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********************** When Time Out was first published in London in 1968 it was an alternative magazine alongside other members of the underground press. Now it reads more like Tatler or Vogue. The Dubai version is an appalling example. With the tv listings replaced by pictures of boring people at posh parties. Worst of all last week's edition has a feature on must have sunglasses. The cheapest pair is over US$200. 1 September 2010 It was a mere 46C today as I was driving !
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*********************** The picture of Thaksin and Mandela created mass speculation in Thailand. Most of the Thai media would like to think that Thaksin is seriously ill. Most immediately said that the picture must be a fake. The editor in chief of the Nation Group went on : “We don’t know why he [Thaksin] met Nelson Mandela. Whether he was invited, whether he asked to see Nelson Mandela and what was the whole purpose behind that – that is the mystery that a whole lot of people will try to solve in the next few days.“ Suthichai Yoon, editor-in-chief Nation Group. Taken from: “From the newsroom“, August 31. So why not just call Mandela. A Thai blogger did just that: The Mandela Foundation replied that they did have a private meeting; and as a private meeting no official pictures were taken or media release issued. 31 August 2010 For some reason this makes me sad: they are not in the same league: apparently it was taken a few days ago. Though some people are already suggesting that it is a fake.
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