I remember a morning couple of years back when I sat on Patong beach in Thailand, sipping a soft drink while my toes were the only thing that obstructed the view of the Andaman sea, reaching into the Indian ocean. Even though the main activities for foreigners felt like humanity at it’s very worst, the beach and surroundings are nothing short of spectacular.
I was recently sitting in Terminal 2 at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, reading Terminal man, the tale about Merhan Karimi Nasseri who has been living in Terminal 1 of CDG for 16 years. That’s right. Terminal 1, the horrible concrete saucer.
This would be a night to remember. We arrived at Guarulhos, the international airport of Sao Paulo, in the afternoon. To our surprise the aircraft had already left. The Air France office was already closed at 5 pm so we had a look at the Air France web site, that referred us to a 24/7 telephone number. That led us in turn to an answering machine, saying that the service was closed and any questions were referred to the web site.
I used to place Egypt quite high on the paradox list, as they have a lot of signs reading “Egypt – the land of peace” while a guard carrying an automatic weapon stands firmly posing in front of the very sign. However, there’s a new kid on the block. In Paraguay, I learned recently, there are people guarding the car tire shops in full Kevlar armor, holding a sawed-off shotgun with a finger on the trigger.
As the large tunnel project Götatunneln is taking form in Gothenburg, there are discussions on what to do with the large space along the water which will be rid of heavy traffic.
